In "Swimming Anatomy", Ian McLeod notes that drills, kicks, and pulls should generally be done after full-stroke work, for the same reason that isolation work should be done after muscle-group work in the gym -- if you tire a small group of muscles, they will limit your performance when you try to work the larger group, so you won't get the complete workout on the group that you otherwise would have.
Since I'm returning to swimming without a coach, I wondered what other general principles people follow in their workouts.
It will help me as I try to structure my own workouts going forward.
Thanks.
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Former Member
One thing I do that is different from most coached workouts is that if I am going to do a sprint set I do it as my first set (after a really good warm up). I want to be at my most fresh mentally and physically to work on sprints. I have never understood why most Masters coaches do sprints last (if at all). That seems more likely to train you to swim sloppy.
That would be my instinct, as well. Will be interesting to hear others' opinions.
At the moment I'm not doing sprint sets, but will add them in the fall, perhaps earlier.
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Former Member
One thing I do that is different from most coached workouts is that if I am going to do a sprint set I do it as my first set (after a really good warm up). I want to be at my most fresh mentally and physically to work on sprints. I have never understood why most Masters coaches do sprints last (if at all). That seems more likely to train you to swim sloppy.
That would be my instinct, as well. Will be interesting to hear others' opinions.
At the moment I'm not doing sprint sets, but will add them in the fall, perhaps earlier.
