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........
I think the overall yardage is a whole different discussion - but there is not a lot of disagreement in terms of the required time commitment. There is quite a lot of info out there that 13-14 is the key age to start building - so 5-6 swim workouts at 90min+ is simply what it takes (you can probably add 2-3 dryland sessions) to become an elite swimmer.
I think this is sound advice. I taught a young man to swim at 11 and talked him into swimming year-round at 13 with the USA team I coached. He swam 5 times a week about 4,000 to 5,000 yards in a workout. Eased him into dryland work. By age 14, he was going a 55 in 100 back and 100 fly (yards). At 15, I sent him to a bigger USA team that had a number of boys on his level. He then started doing 9 swim workouts a week. His senior year of high school he was offered a full scholarship to swim for Tennessee.
If your son wants to add a practice in so that he swims 4 times a week, you might want to consider letting him do it.
I think the overall yardage is a whole different discussion - but there is not a lot of disagreement in terms of the required time commitment. There is quite a lot of info out there that 13-14 is the key age to start building - so 5-6 swim workouts at 90min+ is simply what it takes (you can probably add 2-3 dryland sessions) to become an elite swimmer.
I think this is sound advice. I taught a young man to swim at 11 and talked him into swimming year-round at 13 with the USA team I coached. He swam 5 times a week about 4,000 to 5,000 yards in a workout. Eased him into dryland work. By age 14, he was going a 55 in 100 back and 100 fly (yards). At 15, I sent him to a bigger USA team that had a number of boys on his level. He then started doing 9 swim workouts a week. His senior year of high school he was offered a full scholarship to swim for Tennessee.
If your son wants to add a practice in so that he swims 4 times a week, you might want to consider letting him do it.
