What stroke do you personally train the most?

Originally posted by swiminton But for people who are only going to swim 50-200m races, it is the pace of training not the volume of training that will improve your speed. I would agree with this to an extent. A certain amount of volume is required to build the endurance neccesary to swim at 110% for those 200 yards or meters. Sprints in practice are a great way to accomplish some of that but I would never think of swimming a sprint unless I had at least 4-5 hundred yards of warmup under my belt.

Originally posted by Phil Arcuni All organized workouts I have ever been in spent about 1/4 of the time or yardage doing "warmup". As Knelson says, warmup is a variety of strokes, drills, pulling, kicking, distances, and intensities (but never anaerobic or threshold sets.) Whether this is a good training idea is one issue, but the fact of its presence in swimming programs is not debatable. This is precisely true and exactly the point of the current discussion. The article I posted mentions the following: "Nevertheless, the high-volume, low-intensity training model probably remains the most common practice among élite swimmers, with even sprint swimmers focusing on clocking up the kilometres rather than more race pace- specific training. One of reasons for this high-volume bias is that swimmers and coaches believe that swim technique, efficiency through the water and the ‘feel’ of the stroke are optimised by spending many hours in the pool. I have heard swimmers say they do not feel as comfortable in the water and confident about their technique unless they complete high doses of training. " I don't have that long of a swimming history as most of you here do, but it seems that if you have been swimming for years, it should not take 30-40 minutes every time you go to the pool for your body to get into the state. Your body should quickly memorizes what it is supposed to be doing. Another analogy: If you are going on a cycling race for 40 miles, you don't go warm up for 80 miles every time before your race because you body should have already memorized what to do with short warmups. If that's not the case in any other sports, then why do we do it in swimming? Just because everyone else is doing it, does it make it right? I am sure it has its own values for distance swimmers, but I am not convinced that it is also a good idea for short distance swimmers, simply because it doesn't make sense logically.

The workouts posted at our pool typically consist of a 400-600 yard warmup and then get into some sets at a slower pace. An example that I see quite often is 6 x 100 on 1:45. After that the intervals get shorter and the distances vary. My point is that the warmup is relatively short by definition but in reality, the warmup continues beyond the warmup specific distance on the dry erase board.

Originally posted by knelson swiminton, By your own admission you've only been swimming for a short time. I've been swimming a long time and I don't claim to know everything, but I do know you're wrong :) I don't really think the fact that I'm a distance swimmer has much to do with it. I'll wager that if you asked 100 (experienced) swimmers and coaches if they think only swimming 100-200 yards of warmup is a good idea about 99 would say no. Maybe 100. Kirk, I fully admit my swimming history is a lot shorter than yours. I think we have established the fact that your method is very commonly used in most programs. However, the question still is: just because everyone else is doing it, does it make it right? At some point, the earth was supposed to be the center of the universe if you trusted what everyone else was believing. ;) No offense to anyone, but just because you have the longer swim history doesn't automatically make you a better faster swimmer. If that were the case, you would never see this many 15-year-old world class swimmers. This fact simply shows again it is not the volume but their training program and techniques that make a difference. Michael Phelps trains his fly mostly at 50-100m intervals at race pace. He never goes beyond 200m per set. Nor does he swim a couple thousands yards free just to warmup. All this is to conserve his energy and efficiently use it to train at high intensity. Most successful athletes have some natural talents, which would probably include getting into the race mode with the least amount of warmup in the shortest period of time possible.

Originally posted by 330man The workouts posted at our pool typically consist of a 400-600 yard warmup and then get into some sets at a slower pace. An example that I see quite often is 6 x 100 on 1:45. After that the intervals get shorter and the distances vary. My point is that the warmup is relatively short by definition but in reality, the warmup continues beyond the warmup specific distance on the dry erase board. This I can see as totally reasonable. But some others were arguing that they do three to four times that for the very initial warm up.

I am quite certain that Phelps trains at least 8-10 thousand yards per day, probably more, divided into two sessions.

I have to have at least a 1200 yard warm up before a race, just not too close to race time. If it's longer than an hour before I swim, I get in again and do 300-400 yards.

Originally posted by swiminton This I can see as totally reasonable. But some others were arguing that they do three to four times that for the very initial warm up. For many swimmers on here, 100's on 1:45 is pretty laid back and would certainly qualifty as a warmup. I guess you could call it a structured warmup as opposed to the more bland 500 yard warmup at your own pace.

Maybe it's just me, but Swiminton I think you're confusing . . . or equating . . . an appropriate appropriate warm-up with training sets. Your argument re what sprinters should train (shorter distance, harder effort, more rest) is probably right . . . but that is a separate discussion from the right way to warmup. Your view that proper warm-up can be done in very short order is, in my experience, just plain wrong . . . . whether I'm doing a 2 mile ocean swim or short pool races . . . I need volume to get warm . . . as to all of my teammates. The exceptions are, of course, there . . . especially for newer swimmers who find 1,000 + meters/yards oppressive and who fatigue at those distances . . . but for experienced swimmers who are efficient in the water, more time is needed, sprinter or not . . . imho and in the opinion of the many fine coaches I've known.

Originally posted by 330man I am quite certain that Phelps trains at least 8-10 thousand yards per day, probably more, divided into two sessions. In the training video I have of him and his coach, it doens't talk about the total yards. It only talked about ways to to conserve energy, which is to do short distance sets at high speed. I would imagine people like him trains 6 hours a day. If he was doing this type of long warmup and long distance sets, his yardage would be close to 20 thousand.