Good Morning
I have posted before and as some may know I am the parent of a 13 year old age grouper. I have a question for all of you coaches and former swimmers as his mom and I have never swam competitively? How much volume should he be swimming at his age? I limit him to three hard workouts per week at this point and one dive practice. He also takes a lesson from a great private coach once a week that is just technique oriented and is just thirty minutes long. His total yardage is probably around 15K per week. Some of the other kids his age are doing twice the volume and the subtle pressure is there.
What do you suggest?
Thanks
Spudfin
PS I would rather he study more than swim more........
Volume is a just one tool coaches use to accomplish different goals. Increasing yardage can improve cardiovascular endurance, pain tolerance, pacing knowledge, stroke efficiency, and other important facets of swimming but you need to be careful. Increasing yards can be a double-edged sword. When coaches add yardage to swimmers with stroke flaws, bad habits can be reinforced and future successes can be stunted significantly.
It's rather easy to make sets more difficult by lowering intervals and/or increasing yardage and/or intensity. In a nutshell, a coach must have a method to their madness when manipulating various training aspects. If the program is helping improve athleticism (strength and specific swimming strength), technique, and adaptation to stress (swimming), it's on the right track.
A parent can become too involved in micro-managing their children's activity and in most cases (not all) it becomes very counterproductive. There are many support organizations that can help parents help their swimmers. Please go to the United States Swimming website and the American Swimming Coaches Association website where you'll find an abundant amount of helpful information for parents. Good luck!
Volume is a just one tool coaches use to accomplish different goals. Increasing yardage can improve cardiovascular endurance, pain tolerance, pacing knowledge, stroke efficiency, and other important facets of swimming but you need to be careful. Increasing yards can be a double-edged sword. When coaches add yardage to swimmers with stroke flaws, bad habits can be reinforced and future successes can be stunted significantly.
It's rather easy to make sets more difficult by lowering intervals and/or increasing yardage and/or intensity. In a nutshell, a coach must have a method to their madness when manipulating various training aspects. If the program is helping improve athleticism (strength and specific swimming strength), technique, and adaptation to stress (swimming), it's on the right track.
A parent can become too involved in micro-managing their children's activity and in most cases (not all) it becomes very counterproductive. There are many support organizations that can help parents help their swimmers. Please go to the United States Swimming website and the American Swimming Coaches Association website where you'll find an abundant amount of helpful information for parents. Good luck!
