The Master's Swim Team that I coach is primarily composed of what would be classified as the intermediate swimmer. By this, I mean people who aren't breaking a minute on their 100 yard freestyles, but are more along the lines of a 1:15 (give or take) and still push through the practice.
So, I design their swimming workouts on an intermediate level where they get the rest they need, maintain and improve their current times, and still get a great workout in for only swimming around an hour every day they are in. That being said, I know that they aren't the only ones out there looking for quick workouts at an intermediate Master's level which leads me to the purpose of this forum topic (and what will be an on-going posting of workouts every Monday, Wednesday and Friday). I will be sharing all of the swim workouts that we do in hopes that other people will find benefit in them as well.
Enjoy the workouts and please feel free to give as much feedback as possible!
Parents
Former Member
I was asked by one of our forum members to go over the drills that we do. I will start with our freestyle drills for today's post and post our other strokes throughout the rest of the week. So, here goes:
Freestyle
Side Body Balance (SBB): work the on-axis swimming. This is essentially kicking on your side (45 degree angle) and familiarizing your body with that fully rotated position. If I were to kick on the right side, my right hand would be outstretched in streamline with my head facing down (bottom of the pool) and breathing to the side.
6 Beat Switch: Utlizing SBB, 6 kicks on one side with one pull at the 6th kick, work the proper shoulder/hip/ankle rotation and repeat on the other side
Extended Catch-Up: Consistent stroke and kick that instead of just catching up and pulling, we concentrate on entry position of elbow, wrist, hand as well as the transition between rotations. So, essentially, it is catch-up, reach out, roll and pull.
Finger Drag: Dragging the tips of the fingers on the top of the water close to the side of your body all the way up to a nice, high entry position. The concentration is on the close recovery with high elbow and high entry position.
Zipper: Similar to the finger drag. We pretend that we have a zipper on the side of our body and zipper up to our shoulder, zipper down to our pocket and use a high elbow recovery into a single arm streamline position and repeat on the opposite side.
3 Touch: Our 3 touch places an emphasis on high elbow recovery with a high hand entry position. We do a full pull, touch on the hip, shoulder, temple and enter high and repeat on the other side.
Streamline One Arm (SOA): One arm freestyle with the non-pulling arm in streamline position. Our concentration for this stroke is on the extension and catch phase of the stroke so they are exagerating the rotational movement. Kicking is consistent through the drill. We breath to our pulling arm.
One Arm: One arm freestyle with the non-pulling arm down to the side of the body. The concentration is on the rotation of the hips/shoulders/ankles and the timing of the pulling arm. Kicking is consistent throughout the drill, and we breath away from our pulling arm.
Gallop: 3 pulls one side, 3 pulls the other side breathing on the 3rd stroke. This drill is a modified SOA to concentrate more-so on the catch and pull phase of the stroke. Kicking is consistent throughout this drill.
Distance Per Stroke (DPS): One of my favorite drills to work! Instead of re-typing what I wrote in a blog, read the article.
Fist: Close down the hand and swim! Not exactly true with this drill. We want to take this drill slow so the swimmers get a "feel" for the water with their forearms. A great tool to use during this are Techpaddles. Basically, we are focusing this drill on an Early Vertical Forearm (EVF). Kicking remains consistent though at a slower pace.
Quick Catch: This is a more complex drill that works on the speed and efficiency of the high catch (EVF). What we concentrate on is a slow pull phase of the stroke, relaxed recovery of the stroke, but you want to set up your stroke quickly. In order to do that, when you enter the water at full extension/rotation, say "quick" to yourself and in that amount of time get the forearm vertical and set yourself up for the pull phase. The catch is the only part of this drill that is quick. Kicking, of course, remains consistent.
Fly kick: Pretty self-explanatory, but we do fly kick with our freestyle.
Long Axis Combo (LAC): We modify this a little bit as this works both Long Axis strokes. This drill is 6 strokes free, 6 strokes back. Typically, we will only run this drill if there is a problem with our rotation and we need is over-exagerated.
I hope this helps, and please (as always) let me know if you have any questions about the workouts, drills, etc! Happy Swimming!
I was asked by one of our forum members to go over the drills that we do. I will start with our freestyle drills for today's post and post our other strokes throughout the rest of the week. So, here goes:
Freestyle
Side Body Balance (SBB): work the on-axis swimming. This is essentially kicking on your side (45 degree angle) and familiarizing your body with that fully rotated position. If I were to kick on the right side, my right hand would be outstretched in streamline with my head facing down (bottom of the pool) and breathing to the side.
6 Beat Switch: Utlizing SBB, 6 kicks on one side with one pull at the 6th kick, work the proper shoulder/hip/ankle rotation and repeat on the other side
Extended Catch-Up: Consistent stroke and kick that instead of just catching up and pulling, we concentrate on entry position of elbow, wrist, hand as well as the transition between rotations. So, essentially, it is catch-up, reach out, roll and pull.
Finger Drag: Dragging the tips of the fingers on the top of the water close to the side of your body all the way up to a nice, high entry position. The concentration is on the close recovery with high elbow and high entry position.
Zipper: Similar to the finger drag. We pretend that we have a zipper on the side of our body and zipper up to our shoulder, zipper down to our pocket and use a high elbow recovery into a single arm streamline position and repeat on the opposite side.
3 Touch: Our 3 touch places an emphasis on high elbow recovery with a high hand entry position. We do a full pull, touch on the hip, shoulder, temple and enter high and repeat on the other side.
Streamline One Arm (SOA): One arm freestyle with the non-pulling arm in streamline position. Our concentration for this stroke is on the extension and catch phase of the stroke so they are exagerating the rotational movement. Kicking is consistent through the drill. We breath to our pulling arm.
One Arm: One arm freestyle with the non-pulling arm down to the side of the body. The concentration is on the rotation of the hips/shoulders/ankles and the timing of the pulling arm. Kicking is consistent throughout the drill, and we breath away from our pulling arm.
Gallop: 3 pulls one side, 3 pulls the other side breathing on the 3rd stroke. This drill is a modified SOA to concentrate more-so on the catch and pull phase of the stroke. Kicking is consistent throughout this drill.
Distance Per Stroke (DPS): One of my favorite drills to work! Instead of re-typing what I wrote in a blog, read the article.
Fist: Close down the hand and swim! Not exactly true with this drill. We want to take this drill slow so the swimmers get a "feel" for the water with their forearms. A great tool to use during this are Techpaddles. Basically, we are focusing this drill on an Early Vertical Forearm (EVF). Kicking remains consistent though at a slower pace.
Quick Catch: This is a more complex drill that works on the speed and efficiency of the high catch (EVF). What we concentrate on is a slow pull phase of the stroke, relaxed recovery of the stroke, but you want to set up your stroke quickly. In order to do that, when you enter the water at full extension/rotation, say "quick" to yourself and in that amount of time get the forearm vertical and set yourself up for the pull phase. The catch is the only part of this drill that is quick. Kicking, of course, remains consistent.
Fly kick: Pretty self-explanatory, but we do fly kick with our freestyle.
Long Axis Combo (LAC): We modify this a little bit as this works both Long Axis strokes. This drill is 6 strokes free, 6 strokes back. Typically, we will only run this drill if there is a problem with our rotation and we need is over-exagerated.
I hope this helps, and please (as always) let me know if you have any questions about the workouts, drills, etc! Happy Swimming!
