Tempo Trainers

I went to a clinic in December that was given by Terry Laughlin of Total Immersion. We were all given Tempo Trainers and used them for various drills during the clinic. Terry is a big proponent of the Tempo Trainer and has come up with a lot of ways to use it to help you find your optimal combination of stroke length and stroke tempo. You might want to visit his web site to learn more: http://www.totalimmersion.net/

WCM has tinkered with them now and again. I find it very helpful for breaststroke. I will ask Kerry for some input for you (if you send me a real, live moose from Maine). LOL

Thanks for the replies. Karen, we're loaded with Blue Lobsters up here, but in my 25 years here I've yet to see a live moose in the state! JH, I checked out the Total Immersion use, but I find I have not had success getting faster with their approach. Arthur, the info you provided is along the lines of what I was looking for. I have noticed that I can get a range of speeds with one tempo, and am playing with that. Thanks. The biggest benefit of this device for me so far, though, comes from how it affects my workouts. For me, one of my biggest issues in workouts is maintaining mental focus to swim fast, avoiding both the propensity to focus on how tiring it is and the mental exhaustion over a long period of trying to maintain that focus. With the tempo trainer I am able to swim faster for longer periods without feeling mentally tired. Just responding to the beep is so much easier somehow than trying to push myself alone to the same physical limits.

Dale, I've used them in two ways. First, when I am trying to build endurance, I set it so that it beeps three times on a specific interval. Usually, I'll use the 200 interval that I want to hold on a set of 3x1000. That way, I get some help keeping track of laps, and some immediate feedback about whether I am holding the pace I want. Sometimes, I'll set it so that the 200 interval is faster with each 1000. I've also used it in a set where you set it at a certain tempo, then do repeats of 50s or 100s--but making the tempo get slightly faster every (or every two) repeats, while trying to keep your strokes per length the same. I haven't done that in a while, but when I did, I found it really helped me learn to increase my turnover rate while also keeping focused on my stroke. The idea, which I think I saw on GoSwim, was that it does you no good to move your arms fast if you have to flail at the water to do it.

Although I do some swimming and kicking with the tempo trainer set at varying stroke rates, recently I have been using it differently. Since I train alone, I don't have anyone to time my sprints or do starts practice with. So I use the TT as a starter and timer. For example, If I am doing 25s and have a goal of getting my feet on the wall at opposite end in 12 seconds, I will set it to beep every 3 seconds. Then by using it as a starter, I need to get my feet on the wall at the other end at the 4th beep. Once I attain this goal then I will set it faster, with a goal of say 11.8, and so on. I do 50s in much the same way. I used this on free, back and fly last year and swam PB's in the 50 free, 100 back and 200 back at Nationals. I have started doing this again to prepare for Nationals at Mesa.

I haven't used a Tempo Trainer but they seem most useful for modifying your stroke. You can swim at the exact same stroke rate and see how modifications make you swim faster or slower. Here is an interesting post by TeamTermin about one way to use a Tempo Trainer to improve your technique: U.S. Masters Swimming Discussion Forums - View Single Post - My freestyle technique, what needs work? What I don't like about these types of devices is all that I have seen for sale are disposable. After 6 months or 1 year the battery dies and you can't replace it.

Although I do some swimming and kicking with the tempo trainer set at varying stroke rates, recently I have been using it differently. Since I train alone, I don't have anyone to time my sprints or do starts practice with. So I use the TT as a starter and timer. For example, If I am doing 25s and have a goal of getting my feet on the wall at opposite end in 12 seconds, I will set it to beep every 3 seconds. Then by using it as a starter, I need to get my feet on the wall at the other end at the 4th beep. Once I attain this goal then I will set it faster, with a goal of say 11.8, and so on. I do 50s in much the same way. I used this on free, back and fly last year and swam PB's in the 50 free, 100 back and 200 back at Nationals. I have started doing this again to prepare for Nationals at Mesa. Wow! That is an awesome use of the tempo trainer for start and sprint practice.

I use it for my 200 *** training and sprint 25's. I found that on breaststroke a corresponding decrease of 10% does not drop my time by 10% as it shortens my glide and ups my stroke count (my time does drop however). What it does is allow me to work on is my conditioning and split times for the 200 ***. Another thing I use it for on the 200 is hyptoxic (breathing) training. By setting the interval higher and by decreasing my stroke count I end up gliding farther which cuts the O2 supply. For sprint 25's swimming breaststroke I set the timer tor a 25 split interval (anywhere from 16 to 20 seconds) so that I get the three beep response. I keep my feet on the wall and race to the other end against the tempo trainer. I then rest for one cycle and repeat.