Warming Up:
When you get to the pool deck and get situated (kickboard, water bottle and gear laid out), do a few quick arm rotations and dry land swimming drills. Even some elastic bands can help get your upper body prepped and ready for your swim workout. You would not think of going for a hard run without a warm-up and dynamic stretch, so why should swimming be any different? Personally, I like to do about 10 shoulder shrats and some imitation swimming with my arms to warm-up my upper body. Then, to get my lower body geared up for the swim, I'll do 10 knee bends and flex, stretch, & loosen my ankles. Then I'm sure warmed up and ready to swim. Your workout should start out with some type of water warm-up that is easy. Some examples are:
200swim, 200kick, 200pull, 200swim
400-500 swim
2-4 x 150 Free / 50 no-free
2-4 x 400s (150free, 50 non-free – repeated twice)
400 swim, 300 pull, 200 kick, 100 drill choice
Drilling It:
After you have done a certain warm-up and ingested some fluids, it is time to move on quickly to a drill set to get your arms moving and heart rate up. A drill set will be a bit faster than your warm-up, but not as "hard" as your main set. The primary goal is to focus on good swim technique before fatigue sets in.
I like to give my athletes pretty standard drill sets by only changing up the number of repeats or distance in the set. The drill set rest / recovery period should be no longer than 15 seconds. Here are a few examples of a drill set:
4-10 x 75s with 15 sec rest (kick, drill, swim by 25) (could also be Pull, kick, swim or Drill Swim, Drill, etc.)
3 x (100 pull, 50 swim)
2 – 4 x 150s (25 drill, 50 swim)
Main Set:
After your drill set is complete, a quick one minute break is all you need to determine your main set, the goal of your workout. Your swim workout goal can be broken into three types: Speed / Sprinting / Lactate Threshold sets, Technique / Strength sets and Distance / Endurance sets. Each workout should focus on one of these three goal types which will determine your main set, however the exception to the rule is when you might combine them. Below are some examples of how to structure your main set:
Speed Day:
– 3 x (100 swim HARD, 50 easy)
10 x 100s @ lactate threshold effort
2 x (5 x 100s FAST @ descending effort, 100 easy)
Distance Day:
4 x 300s @ moderate effort w /: 20seconds rest
6 x 200s
Odds: Max Distance Per Stroke – focus on good technique
Evens: Moderate effort
– 4 x 400s
Technique / Strength Day
4 x (100 pull, 50 one arm drill, 250 pull)
3 x (4 x 50s Band Training w /: 10sec rest, 300 Pull w /: 15sec rest, 50 easy) @ Moderate effort
2 x (4 x 100s w /: 15 sec rest breathing ever 3/4/5/6 by 25)
# 1 – Pulling
# 2 – Swim
Warm Down Is not Everything:
After completing your main set, perform a quick cool down to end your swim workout. It's easy to finish your main set and hop out of the pool to leave, but I would highly advise against this. A cool down can be short, no longer than 300 meters, and will help prevent injury to your body. For my athletes, I generally advise a 100-300 meter warm down of straight easy freestyle with emphasis on good technique. To make for a really effective workout, once you're done swimming, get out for a quick core workout. I tell my athletes to do this either right on the pool deck or right when they get home.
3 x: 30sec of holding a plank position.
3 x: 20sec of side plank
And 2-3 sets of favorite core exercises (Example: Pointers, Bicycle Crunches)
The workouts I've provided above should be used as a guide to help you learn more about how and what you should be doing at the pool. Staring at the black line can get boring, but if you take charge of your workout, getting bored or losing focus does not have to be an excuse anymore. Now you know how to properly structure your swim workout. So stop doing 30 x 50 or 100 free repeats all day and make a new plan.