What is everyones approach to dryland training during taper? Here is my approach below.
DRYLAND TRAINING DURING TAPER
All the hard work has been put in over the course of the season and finally its time to Taper. Every swimmer and coach has a different approach to their taper but everyone wants the same thing – peak performance at the right time. Dryland training plays a big role in this process as well. Its is important not to eliminate dryland during taper time but to design the workouts so they are consistent with the taper in the pool.
A good dryland program develops strength and power thoughout the season and is periodized properly so that the athlete peaks at the right time.. If the exercises used all year in a dryland program are eliminated completely during taper then the power gained throughout the season will have some sort of drop off. This is the exact opposite of what an athlete or coach wants during taper time. When looking to be at a peak performance level and preparing to swim at a championship meet an athlete needs to be as fast and explosive as possible and certainly does not want to have a drop off in power in the water.
They key to dryland during taper is to “maintain” the strength and power levels gained throughout the year. Taper time is certainly not a time to increase weight, volume or intensity in any way. It also is not the time to introduce new exercises and create new adaptations for the body. Just stay consistent with the exercises that have been done throughout the year and pull back a little bit with the intensity. Many swimmers and coaches are resistant to doing any dryland during taper in fear of “messing up the taper”. It is ignorant for us completely eliminate the exercises we have been doing all year. Instead just change the variables and redesign the workouts. Compare this to the work done in the pool. Do we just stop swimming? Of course not, we reduce volume, increase rest periods, and increase speed work. Almost the same thing should be done with our dryland training.
During taper, exercises should be selected that emphasize power. Fast explosive movements that teach the muscles to generate force quickly are ideal. Keep reducing the volume and the resistance the closer the championship meet gets. In addition to this increase the amount of rest the swimmers get between each set. To give everyone a better idea I have included a lower body workout below. Notice how each during each week the change in repition and resistance.
( 4 weeks out from Championship Meet)
ExerciseSetsRepsResistanceBarbell Squats38135 lbsBox Jump3810 lb weighted vestDumbbell Lunge3810 lb dumbbellsSplit Jumps3810 lb weighted vest
(3 weeks out from Championship Meet)
ExerciseSetsRepsResistanceBarbell Squats35135 lbsBox Jump3510 lb weighted vestDumbbell Lunge3510 lb dumbbellsSplit Jumps3510 lb weighted vest
(2 Weeks out from Championship Meet)
ExerciseSetsRepsResistanceBarbell Squats35115 lbsBox Jump35BodyweightDumbbell Lunge355 lb dumbbellsSplit Jumps35Bodyweight
(1 Week out from Championship Meet)
ExerciseSetsRepsResistanceBarbell Squats000Box Jump35BodyweightDumbbell Lunge0 00Split Jumps35Bosyweight
The last thing swimmers want is to feel weaker because their dryland program has been eliminated the last 2 – 3 weeks before the big meet. Periodization of a dryland program should include the taper period. If you have a plan then dryland training will improve your taper and certainly won’t hurt it! Good luck and swim fast! If you have more questions you can email me at Grif@ihpfit.com.
Agree with you on the legs and its important to state that everyone has a different recovery timetable.
I just wanted to clarify the low level of intensity of dryland training that I recommend during this time. An aggressive dryland program 1 week before a championship meet is not what I am suggesting. Doing 3 sets of 5 box jumps and 3 sets of 5 split jumps with lots of rest in between is not going to ruin a taper. This is like saying a broken swim will ruin a taper if you do it the week before the meet.
The goal of taper is to swim as fast as possible and my point is that a drop off in power production will not allow this.
Can't speak for Fort but I've cycled through a LOT of tapers over many years...the only success I've personally found with what your advocating is a mid-season "drop taper".
If I'm two weeks out from a major meet I have always had the most success eliminating all lower body dry land work (my legs have always taken a lot longer to recover from a season of heavy dry land) and instead adding additional start work in (which I stop entirely 10 days out).
People react differently however...can you provide an example of when you used this and at what level of competition? Curious what events you swam and the results?
Disagree.
The goal of a taper is to swim fast, not to maintain strength. Doing drylands during taper is not conducive to fast swimming. Explosive lifting and plyos can be done during a period of weeks prior to taper (and during the season), but not during taper. It is much more critical to completely rest the body, especially the legs IMO.
I agree; especially when you get to be our age... :cane:
(Fort, I'll be joining you in the 50+ club in January!)
Disagree.
The goal of a taper is to swim fast, not to maintain strength. Doing drylands during taper is not conducive to fast swimming. Explosive lifting and plyos can be done during a period of weeks prior to taper (and during the season), but not during taper. It is much more critical to completely rest the body, especially the legs IMO.
Agree with you on the legs and its important to state that everyone has a different recovery timetable.
I just wanted to clarify the low level of intensity of dryland training that I recommend during this time. An aggressive dryland program 1 week before a championship meet is not what I am suggesting. Doing 3 sets of 5 box jumps and 3 sets of 5 split jumps with lots of rest in between is not going to ruin a taper. This is like saying a broken swim will ruin a taper if you do it the week before the meet.
The goal of taper is to swim as fast as possible and my point is that a drop off in power production will not allow this.
Disagree.
The goal of a taper is to swim fast, not to maintain strength. Doing drylands during taper is not conducive to fast swimming. Explosive lifting and plyos can be done during a period of weeks prior to taper (and during the season), but not during taper. It is much more critical to completely rest the body, especially the legs IMO.
The Red Devil is right.
Thanks for the post. Can you edit to clarify the actual set, reps and weights as they seem to have lost formatting?
I've tended to stop in advance of the meet, but next year will be keen to experiment more as I'm less concerned with results and more concerned with maintaining fitness levels.
Thanks for adding into the post Paul. I definetly like to here about what works for other people.
The training program I posted is what I did with some of our higher level high school kids. They actually tapered pretty well. We stopped dryland one week out with the more advanced swimmers that had the most dryland background. If someone is new to dryland training (new stimulus) then I usually rest them earlier. One of the guys who swam the 50 Fr went 21.5 in season and went 20.8 at states. We had a girl who swam the 100 Free and went 51.5 in season and ended up going 50.2. I feel the taper was good but I have had a couple seasons with them and their coaching staff to get it right.
As for me I haven't been in a masters meet in 5 years but I'm starting back again! Dixie Championships in Feb will be my first meet back - I will see how my taper goes then.
Disagree.
The goal of a taper is to swim fast, not to maintain strength. Doing drylands during taper is not conducive to fast swimming. Explosive lifting and plyos can be done during a period of weeks prior to taper (and during the season), but not during taper. It is much more critical to completely rest the body, especially the legs IMO.
Disagree.
The goal of a taper is to swim fast, not to maintain strength. Doing drylands during taper is not conducive to fast swimming. Explosive lifting and plyos can be done during a period of weeks prior to taper (and during the season), but not during taper. It is much more critical to completely rest the body, especially the legs IMO.
Have to agree with Fort on this one.
Sorry about that! Here you go.
4 wks out
Barbell Squats 3 x 8 135lbs
Box Jumps 3 x 8 10lb weight vest
Dumbbell Lunge 3 x 8 10lb dumbbell
Split Jumps 3 x 8 10 lb weight vest
3 wks out
Barbell Squats 3 x 5 135lbs
Box Jumps 3 x 5 10lb weight vest
Dumbbell Lunge 3 x 5 10lb dumbbell
Split Jumps 3 x 5 10 lb weight vest
2 wks out
Barbell Squats 3 x 5 115lbs
Box Jumps 3 x 5 Bodyweight
Dumbbell Lunge 3 x 5 5lb dumbbell
Split Jumps 3 x 5 Bodyweight
1 wks out
Box Jumps 3 x 5 Bodyweight
Split Jumps 3 x 5 Bodyweight
The training program I posted is what I did with some of our higher level high school kids. They actually tapered pretty well. We stopped dryland one week out with the more advanced swimmers that had the most dryland background. If someone is new to dryland training (new stimulus) then I usually rest them earlier. One of the guys who swam the 50 Fr went 21.5 in season and went 20.8 at states. We had a girl who swam the 100 Free and went 51.5 in season and ended up going 50.2. I feel the taper was good but I have had a couple seasons with them and their coaching staff to get it right.
This past summer in LCM I did one in-season meet and then had a taper meet at Auburn nationals. Here were the drops for the events I did at both meets:
50 back: 30.31 --> 29.09
100 back: 1:05.15 --> 1:02.11
200 back: 2:22.60 --> 2:15.83
I've almost always had pretty good drops in taper, usually in the range of 1-2 seconds/100 and usually I stop drylands 3-4 weeks out. I don't notice any loss of speed/power in the water; just the opposite in fact.
This summer I tried a different experiment: I had been lifting pretty hard (using mostly a dumbbell-based routine) and was stronger than I have been in the past few years, but I could feel it wearing me down. I stopped a full 6 weeks out from nationals; for 3 weeks after stopping I stepped up some in-water resistance work (using mostly parachutes and paddles) to transition that strength gain to speed/power in the water. And I consciously tried to "step up" a little more on the race-pace quality work; weights always really affects my in-water performance and I reasoned that I was ready to start using the strength gains to swim faster going into the taper.
Sure I lost strength IN THE WEIGHT ROOM by the time I returned to it (though I quickly re-gained it), but I don't think the extended time off affected my speed/power in the water. I was also happy with my swim in the 50 fly individual event (26.6) and had a pretty decent 50 free relay split (24.8), considering the fact that I consider myself a fairly inept freestyle sprinter.
I don't really think speed/power training in the pool are the most effective ways to build strength, but I think they can be quite good in maintaining it over the short term. So that's why I don't worry too much about getting those drylands in during taper.
