Since there is
Help my Flutter Kick is Horrible
and
Help my SDK is Horrible
I decided to begin
Help My Speed is Horrible!
a thread for swimmers who want to dramatically improve their 25 speed and times
Help My Speed is Horrible! is a Sprint improvement program
If you do it consistently you should dramatically improve your 25 swimming time.
When you improve your 25 speed
you'll improve your times in all swimming distances
especially 50's, 100's, & 200's
even 400, 500, 800, 1,000, 1,500 & 1,650 times will benefit.
Here's the Program for "Help My Speed is Horrible"
Begin with testing figure out your starting point. Where are you now?
Then train
Then retest
Test
Get your times on the following swims
1) 15 meters
2) 25
3) 50
4) 75 &
5) 100
Test the 15, 25, & 50 on one day then the 75 & 100 on a different day
put plenty of rest between each timed effort
like a very easy 75 or 125 or 175 then 3 to 7 more minutes of rest
put more rest between the longer sprints
also note
The suit you wore
Your start: how did you start each swim
(roll, push, or coaches go, )
dive from a block or side
push from in the water
Use a STOPWATCH tell the timer how you want them to time you
Report your Results in this thread
Training
1) do this set 2 or 3 times a week, 12 x 25 swim
3 EASY recovery concentrating on perfect form
1 as fast as possible for time
YOU MUST GO SUPER FAST ON THESE
IF YOU HOLD BACK AT ALL YOU'RE WASTING YOUR TIME
preferably no breath, unless your 25 time is over 20 or 25 seconds
It's OK to do more working out, just fit this set in some where in your workouts,
be consistent, one round is better than none
2) Test every Friday or Saturday
1) 3 weeks of 15, 25, & 50
2) 1 week of 25, 75 & 100
3) work on improving your flutter kick and SDK
www.usms.org/.../showpost.phpwww.usms.org/.../showpost.php
if you're working on your swimming speed, SDK and Flutter kick
do 2 x (4 x 25) swim
2 x (4 x 25) flutter kick
2 x (4 x 25) SDK
4) stretch your feet / ankles to improve your toe point
5) Lift weights to improve your strength power and speed
2 or 3 times a week
6) get a tech suit
www.usms.org/.../showpost.phpwww.usms.org/.../showpost.php
7) perfect your swimming technique
pushoff
streamline
SDK
head position
body position
arm motions
leg motions
touching the wall (the clock doesn't stop until you touch the wall)
8) Train and test for 5 weeks then
Rest one week, reduce your yardage
Mon 2 x 4 x 25
Tue easy
Wed 4 x 25
Thu easy
Friday or Saturday TEST wearing a tech suit
Report your results
9) begin another 6 week cycle
Report your test results in this fashion
(put most recent times on top)
8/10/08: 23.48
7/26: 25.92
7/6: 24.94
7/2: 25.45
5/10: 25.55
4/4: 27.18
3/29: 26.27
3/22: 27.62
3/15: 27.12
3/8: 28.0
3/1: 30.2
You should begin to see dramatic improvements in your 25 speed.
I look forward to reading your results.
Let me know if you accept this challenge
Give it a try and see what happens
Don't be fooled by how simple it is.
Are you in?
Parents
Former Member
Hi, I hope there is still interest in this thread!
First off, a little about me, I'm 32 year old guy, 6'2", swam competitively till I was 14 when I stopped for other sports. I've been pretty inactive for the last 6 years or so, and I started swimming again 5 weeks ago as part of a weight loss drive, because an old knee problem was flaring up from too much running. I've still about 10lbs to lose, which will have me at about 205lbs and 11/12% bodyfat, so i realise a little more weight loss should have a positive effect on my times.
I'm now hooked on swimming again, and am really trying to drop my times, which to be honest, are disappointingly bad. My best 25m time is a little slower than it was when I was 14....
So, here are my times at the moment (all SCM from a push start, just a normal speedo jammer, i don't expect to race, so can't justify the cost of high tech togs):
400 - 7:01
200 - 3:28
100 - 1:39.8
50 - 37.4s
25 - 16s
I'm swimming 5/6 times a week, roughly 90 minute sessions, along with 3-4 weights and rowing sessions per week. My weekly swim sessions currently are:
1. Endurance - 800m warmup, 2x1500m, 200 cooldown 4,000m total.(planning on building this to 4500m total)
2. Freestyle workout taken from this thread: U.S. Masters Swimming Discussion Forums - View Single Post - Intermediate Swimming Workouts - By Andy (I can't hold those times, eg I do 100m in 1:41 or so and take 30s rest. My total time for everything but the 50's is longer than the time given here. 3,750m total.
3. 800 warmup, 8x125 kick (with fins), 10x50 sprint (about 44s average), 6x100 pull(with buoy and paddles) 200 cooldown. 3100m total.
4. 800 warmup, 2x50, 2x100, 2x200, 1x400, 2x200, 2x100, 2x50, 800 cooldown. 3,400m total.
5. 800 warmup, Ande's 12x25 from this thread (really struggled to do the last 25 without a breath), 20x25 on 1 min( took 2-3 breaths on each one, 18.5s average, then whatever is left of the minute rest) 8x100 easy, focus on long, smooth stroke and my turns, 200 cooldown. 2,600m total.
6. Same as 1.
I need to work on my turns, which are slow and leave me gasping for breath. Right now they are not much faster than my touch turns, and I feel cause me to swim slower due to oxygen deficit. I've found plenty of resources for perfecting turn technique, but what I can't find much on is how to deal with not breathing coming in, and not breathing for the stroke or two out, without drowning!
I seem to take around 18 strokes from a push start for 25m, sometimes 17, sometimes 19. This doesn't appear to change much even at different paces.
Any and all advice is appreciated, particularly with a view to tweaking my workouts for better effect (i put it together myself, so it probably isn't very good! I'm entirely open to changing it completely).
My goals: (Feel free to say if they are unrealistic!) I'd like to get my 100 to somewhere around 1:15, lower if possible, my 400 to 6 mins or less, and my 50 close to 30s, or lower if possible.
I don't really have access to any coaching or a masters group, so I'll have to go it alone for the most part.
Apologies for the length of the post, but I wanted to be as thorough as I could, so thanks if you've made it this far, and many thanks for any responses!
Hi, I hope there is still interest in this thread!
First off, a little about me, I'm 32 year old guy, 6'2", swam competitively till I was 14 when I stopped for other sports. I've been pretty inactive for the last 6 years or so, and I started swimming again 5 weeks ago as part of a weight loss drive, because an old knee problem was flaring up from too much running. I've still about 10lbs to lose, which will have me at about 205lbs and 11/12% bodyfat, so i realise a little more weight loss should have a positive effect on my times.
I'm now hooked on swimming again, and am really trying to drop my times, which to be honest, are disappointingly bad. My best 25m time is a little slower than it was when I was 14....
So, here are my times at the moment (all SCM from a push start, just a normal speedo jammer, i don't expect to race, so can't justify the cost of high tech togs):
400 - 7:01
200 - 3:28
100 - 1:39.8
50 - 37.4s
25 - 16s
I'm swimming 5/6 times a week, roughly 90 minute sessions, along with 3-4 weights and rowing sessions per week. My weekly swim sessions currently are:
1. Endurance - 800m warmup, 2x1500m, 200 cooldown 4,000m total.(planning on building this to 4500m total)
2. Freestyle workout taken from this thread: U.S. Masters Swimming Discussion Forums - View Single Post - Intermediate Swimming Workouts - By Andy (I can't hold those times, eg I do 100m in 1:41 or so and take 30s rest. My total time for everything but the 50's is longer than the time given here. 3,750m total.
3. 800 warmup, 8x125 kick (with fins), 10x50 sprint (about 44s average), 6x100 pull(with buoy and paddles) 200 cooldown. 3100m total.
4. 800 warmup, 2x50, 2x100, 2x200, 1x400, 2x200, 2x100, 2x50, 800 cooldown. 3,400m total.
5. 800 warmup, Ande's 12x25 from this thread (really struggled to do the last 25 without a breath), 20x25 on 1 min( took 2-3 breaths on each one, 18.5s average, then whatever is left of the minute rest) 8x100 easy, focus on long, smooth stroke and my turns, 200 cooldown. 2,600m total.
6. Same as 1.
I need to work on my turns, which are slow and leave me gasping for breath. Right now they are not much faster than my touch turns, and I feel cause me to swim slower due to oxygen deficit. I've found plenty of resources for perfecting turn technique, but what I can't find much on is how to deal with not breathing coming in, and not breathing for the stroke or two out, without drowning!
I seem to take around 18 strokes from a push start for 25m, sometimes 17, sometimes 19. This doesn't appear to change much even at different paces.
Any and all advice is appreciated, particularly with a view to tweaking my workouts for better effect (i put it together myself, so it probably isn't very good! I'm entirely open to changing it completely).
My goals: (Feel free to say if they are unrealistic!) I'd like to get my 100 to somewhere around 1:15, lower if possible, my 400 to 6 mins or less, and my 50 close to 30s, or lower if possible.
I don't really have access to any coaching or a masters group, so I'll have to go it alone for the most part.
Apologies for the length of the post, but I wanted to be as thorough as I could, so thanks if you've made it this far, and many thanks for any responses!
