Early in the season I do mostly drills.As the season progesses I do fewer and fewer drills. By 10 wk before a taper meet I am doing almost no drills,unless I find something I need to correct.
SwimmingWorld Magazine does an interview with coaches. Virtually all of them incorporate drills as an important part of the workout. I think more drills are done pre-season, but some drills are always part of the workouts. Many top swimmers drill during meet warm-ups also.
If I were a coach, my swimmers would be doing stroke drills for at least 40 percent of their time in the water. Even those who have no desire to compete get a benefit from this, as it will help them be better workout swimmers.
When I break away from my team to do my sprint training each season, every workout has a set specifically for drills. Mostly the drill set is used to warm up the body, but it also is used to reinforce stroke after a difficult set.
The responses show more proof that masters swimming focuses too much on quantity and not quality.
I am not fully advocating a mutiny, but if you can find a set that allows you to do drills, then please do so. Or move down a couple of lanes, take the end position and work on drills. It's one thing to have the coach say to bend your elbows on the recovery then walk away; it's another thing completely to devote 10 minutes a day specifically to that.
How do you define "drill"? That would effect my answer. Are SDK shooters a drill? I think they are. Use of swim toys to master "hinging" or other things? Are these drills?
I spend a lot of time drilling. I don't know the exact percentage, but a good amount. If the non-swimming things I do are considered drills, I think I'm close to Jeff's percentage.
