How much Drill - How much Swim

George, I think you posted one of the most interesting threads in some time. Swimmers who are swimming for only swimming's sake (cardiovascular improvement, fun, and for mere enjoyment) aren't necessarily interested in decreasing their times but for everyone else, the question of how much drilling should a swimmer do during practice, is an important one. I want everyone to be clear, I admire people who are getting exercise for all the benefits it brings in and of itself but I want to delve into George's question. I believe that yardage must coincide with technical proficiency. So, swimmers with terrible stroke mechanics, who want to improve, must begin spending 100% of their time refining their stroke. When indicators like distance per stroke (DPS) improves and time begins to drop, then the swimmer can begin putting in 10% of their training time increasing distance and 90% refining their stroke. The learning curve for technical swimming proficiency varies tremedously so swimmers who don't get it will spend longer in the 100% drill mode than others. This brings up a sticky point for most swimmers, - When their stroke just doesn't seem to get better, can't they just start swimming sets like everyone else? The answer is yes but my point is, - focus on technical stroke improvement first and give what's left to a main set or two with the rest of the team. Josh Davis was traveling to a clinic and he said that when he loses even a little bit of his feel for the water, he has to spend a great deal of time (sometimes many weeks) getting it back. When an Olympian starts saying that training smarter and not harder is sometimes a necessity, it carries a lot of weight. Who can forget coaches challenging swimmer with 1000 yard fly's on a dare. The pride the swimmers must have felt for finishing overshadowed the harm they retained from reinforcing terrible stroke mechanics. That's it in a nutshell, don't be the kind of swimmer who wears yardage as a badge of courage only to show off the same stroke flaws. You know that I'm an EVF guy but now I'm also an Isometric and Virtual swimming kind of guy too. Yardage is very important but must be put in it's place. Since the early 60's and to this day, some coaches and swimmers will use yardage as a foundation for success and that simply only applies to swimmers who have sound stroke mechanics. Unfortunately, most swimmers don't have sound stroke mechanics and they are the ones who need to shift their ratio toward the effective drill side of practices. Good post George!

George, I think you posted one of the most interesting threads in some time. Swimmers who are swimming for only swimming's sake (cardiovascular improvement, fun, and for mere enjoyment) aren't necessarily interested in decreasing their times but for everyone else, the question of how much drilling should a swimmer do during practice, is an important one. I want everyone to be clear, I admire people who are getting exercise for all the benefits it brings in and of itself but I want to delve into George's question. I believe that yardage must coincide with technical proficiency. So, swimmers with terrible stroke mechanics, who want to improve, must begin spending 100% of their time refining their stroke. When indicators like distance per stroke (DPS) improves and time begins to drop, then the swimmer can begin putting in 10% of their training time increasing distance and 90% refining their stroke. The learning curve for technical swimming proficiency varies tremedously so swimmers who don't get it will spend longer in the 100% drill mode than others. This brings up a sticky point for most swimmers, - When their stroke just doesn't seem to get better, can't they just start swimming sets like everyone else? The answer is yes but my point is, - focus on technical stroke improvement first and give what's left to a main set or two with the rest of the team. Josh Davis was traveling to a clinic and he said that when he loses even a little bit of his feel for the water, he has to spend a great deal of time (sometimes many weeks) getting it back. When an Olympian starts saying that training smarter and not harder is sometimes a necessity, it carries a lot of weight. Who can forget coaches challenging swimmer with 1000 yard fly's on a dare. The pride the swimmers must have felt for finishing overshadowed the harm they retained from reinforcing terrible stroke mechanics. That's it in a nutshell, don't be the kind of swimmer who wears yardage as a badge of courage only to show off the same stroke flaws. You know that I'm an EVF guy but now I'm also an Isometric and Virtual swimming kind of guy too. Yardage is very important but must be put in it's place. Since the early 60's and to this day, some coaches and swimmers will use yardage as a foundation for success and that simply only applies to swimmers who have sound stroke mechanics. Unfortunately, most swimmers don't have sound stroke mechanics and they are the ones who need to shift their ratio toward the effective drill side of practices. Good post George!