Training volume for age groupers?

When I was 12 we would do 3 workouts a day during the summer. We would rack up 10,000 or more yards each day. All we did was swim, eat and sleep. Yes, this was excessive. I remember however, really enjoying it. There is no doubt that this summer of hard work was part of my basis for college swimming and polo. When school started we switched to double workouts, about 7,000 yds a day. This was in the era of mega yards. There is a different and wiser thought out there today. My point is, tons of yardage might not be bad, it wasn't for me (yes, however, I burned out big time at age 19, but I came back) but I don't think it is necessary. There are other more important things in life.

When I was an age grouper I had practice Mon-Thursday in the evenings after school and some Saturdays when we didn't have meets. In the summer we had an AM practice and and afternoon practice. Lots of pool time and hard work but I LOVED it. My work never suffered in school. I was an honors student and I firmly believe that swimming helped me focus in school. If he wants to swim more, I'd let him and just set conditions that if his grades/work starts slipping with the increased pool time, he'll have to cut back. I'll just state this. After just being back in the pool 20 years after I stopped swimming, I can't tell you how outrageously thankful I am my parents allowed me to swim and gave me the opportunites to do it as I wished. As a result, I can hit the pool today and still love it and enjoy it. It's reaping enormous benefits all these decades later.

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........ My 13 year old child follows the same routine. 3 days a week seems to work fine for her. She's doing very well on a combination of natural ability, and an easy does it attitude, which keeps up her enthusiasm. (Being able to keep up with school work also reduces her stress level, and helps her stay balanced.) And yes there are other more hard core kids who show up four and five days a week. But these are the same ones who take off during the spring and summer sessions because they got burnt out. Maybe when your son is a bit older he'll tell you if he's ready to make a stronger commitment. Pushing a kid too hard often results in a melt down, and they won't want to go at all.

I am a parent of two age group boys - one is now a freshman in college. The other boy is now 16. At around 13 yrs. old they were probably swimming 5 days a week. Sometimes a Saturday morning practice was a replacement for a day off weekday. I would guess they swam about 20-25,000 yards in those five practices. During this period they swam for two different teams. One of them, the largest and most famous team in Austin, was a yardage oriented team. Some of them (but not my boys) swim 8-9 practices a week with this team. I believe 5 days a week, 20-25,000 yards is not likely to be "too much" from a physical perspective for the typical USS swimmer. I would hope the training is not just yardage and contains a healthy does of technique work and attention to details. I would be more concerned with attitude and watch for burnout. A 13 yr. old is probably growing, gaining size and strength, and recovers well from strenuous exercise. Make sure they eat and sleep well.

PS I would rather he study more than swim more........ In my experience swimming less very seldom results in studying more. Whenever I was out of the water I tended to procrastinate on my school work. You feel like you've got plenty of time to do it. When you're swimming doubles you know you've got to get it done if you want to sleep that night.

Wow thanks for all the great responses. I had a sense he may be a little light on the frequency and yardage and that is OK with me. There is time for more as he progresses. One of the posts mentioned intent. He wants to swim in college at some level and given his level of success with minimal training I think he could. I am the stick in the mud however. He will have to present a good argument for continuing in college as I would have him focus on his studies. It is a fine line between my past experiences and his future dreams. I love that the boy has dreams! Thanks again for the great advice. Spudfin Many swimmers learn how to balance their time well and do great in college, even with a heavy training regimen. One of the girls I coached as a high schooler went on to swim for Alabama all four years and now has her doctorate in exercise physiology. I swam all 4 years for a Divison III school that is ranked in the top 20 of best colleges (academically), had time to study, and did well enough to get into a good law school that is likewise ranked among the top 20 law schools. There are others on this forum who went to even more academically demanding schools and swam in college. I agree with the other posts here that 3 times a week is not going to be sufficient if you want to see him have a shot at swimming in college. The young man I mentioned in my prior post was somewhat exceptional in achieving the times he did in a short period of time. If your son wants to have a chance to swim in college or achieve his true potential during high school, I would at least consider moving up the number of practices he does with the team to four per week.

Spudfin - it sounds like you plan to continue restricting him to 3 workouts a week. If he wants to swim in college - he is at a point where an investment in more (quality) training will pay off. I am definitly not a fan of the pounding yards school that is still popular in many age group teams. But repetition, science-based aerobic work, and technique all will improve your child. 3 times a week will become a constraint. My oldest son is a freshman in college and is swimming. We told him it was his choice to swim or not. He had a great senior year in high school and decided he wanted to swim. He is a walk-on, as perhaps most Div 1 male swimmers are. But he is part of the team, and he has a strong structure to his day, which I think helps him his freshman year away from home. If he chooses to quit at some point - that's his choice and I won't try to change his mind. He knows he is in college to get a worthwhile degree.

I swam only summer league up until the summer after my freshman year of high-school when I joined the local USS team. I was 15 at the time. I really got sucked in and trained like crazy through the rest of high-school and college. I ended up swimming at the National level with scholarship offers from a few DI schools. I don't know that every kid has to be piling on the yardage so early in their careers. This kid is only 13--with the age of "peak swimming" seemingly getting older I'm not sure it will hurt him to only swim three times a week at this point...

I appreciate the most recent posts on combining college swimming with academics. I suppose given my experience in a Div 1 athletic department in college I am biased against combining the two but remain open to the possibility. Sounds like the overwhelming advice is to let him swim more if he wants within reason. Based on what you tell me 4 or 5 a week at his age would be OK. I like the post that suggested that if his increase in volume results in a decrease in GPA then we talk again about the choice. Here is another question perhaps for you coaches and former college level swimmers. If he wants to swim in college what level is best for combining school and swimming? What has been your experience? I know a great deal depends on what he wants to do in school and how fast he swims in high school of course. Just wondering about your experiences. Regards Spudfin If he's a good student, I really doubt his grades will suffer from swimming more than 3x a week. That's pretty minimal unless he's also doing other sports or activities. Both my teenagers are doing fine training every day. Sports keep them efficient and organized. If only sports would eliminate the "teenage" factor ... I swam for a year at a small D I school, although we weren't very good. (Burned out and RC tear) It was very academically rigorous, and it was difficult at times to balance the two. However, it can certainly be be done if the desire is there. Half my swim team was pre-med. From what I've observed, endurance athletes (swimming, cross country, crew) tend to have high GPAs. You have a ways to go before worrying about that now. I'm hoping my kids continue their sports in college. But I don't want them selecting their school for that reason particularly. I have an academic bias as well.

In my experience with coaching, I did notice a difference when a kid went from 3 to 4 practices a week. Jumping from 4 to 5, usually not much difference. Jump up to six or more and you start to see a huge difference. Of course, this was a general observation, but seemed to hold true over the 300+ kids I have coached over the years. I swam for a Division III school that stressed putting academics first. It was a very enjoyable experience. Since DIV III schools do not give athletic scholarships, I did not have the pressure that I know scholarship athletes deal with. Many parents have your concerns and I think much depends on the particular child. You still have many years ahead of you to see what develops. I think you might want to consider waiting until your child is 16 to revisit the issue of swimming during college. In the meantime, if your child wants to swim more, consider letting him give it a shot and see if he maintains his grades. You may find that his grades actually improve because he will know he has less time to waste. ;)