Hi,
I’m posting this question/topic for a good friend. I realize i could probably do a quick google or ST search on this, but I like to have an interactive discussion where I can post more questions, answer things etc…
my question is:
What is the best way to increase swimming speed for a beginner swimmer? I.e., what type of workouts should my friend do? e.g. work on short fast intervals with lots of rest (50s and 100s), short fast intervals with little rest, or longer threshold stuff (200s - 500s) with little rest? or something else? maybe focus on something different for each of the 3 days she swims?
some added info about the athlete in question:
target distance is sprint triathlon for the coming year. first race is mid february 2011.
-been swimming for approx 1year. maybe 1 to 2 x a week for 6mo. now swimming 3 x a week for ~45min-1hr. claims she has not gotten any faster since after the first couple of months of improvement.
-female
-runner background, but probably a better biker (which she is also new to).
doesn’t have a whole lot of time to do more than 3 x ~45min-1hr per week, and so wants suggestions on how to structure workouts. obviously she’d prob get faster if she was able to do more swimming.
most of the workouts she’s been doing is just getting in and swimming about 1700-2000 yards - without many intervals or much speedwork etc.
“base” for 100 yards is approx 2:20min (plenty of room for improvement!)
technique if fairly good - i don’t think it is holding her speed back
she wants to improve her overall swimming speed - i.e., swimming speed for an olympic distance race.
100 yards in 2:20 minutes suggests bad form. Rather than thrashing out more yardage, I’d suggest taking lessons or joining a swim program where somebody can advise on stroke inefficiencies.
100 yards in 2:20 minutes suggests bad form. Rather than thrashing out more yardage, I’d suggest taking lessons or joining a swim program where somebody can advise on stroke inefficiencies.
This!
Join a local master’s swim team. You can find a listing of them at http://www.usms.org/. Most are beginner friendly and affordable. Just by swimming in an organized group, you will get a lot of good feedback and coaching and I’m confident your times will improve. Good luck.
You (She) needs a swim coach to improve stroke technique.
Old habits die hard.
Every session.
During warm up & warm down complete swim drills. Water is 800 x denser than air so you need to be streamlined.
Count strokes during the warm up normal swim during the main set & during the warm down. Make sure you do not do fewer strokes per lap towards the end of the work out.
Swim 25m 50m & 75m not too long keep good form.
Aim for a target time this will be trial & error but aim to have short recovery 25-50% of time taken for the swim (30 seconds for 25m then take 7- 15 seconds) depending on what you are trying to achieve.
Short recovery 25- 50% of time taken = For endurance
Longer recovery 50-100% of time taken = For speed
Once a week swim slowly and breathe fewer strokes per lap and work on a good long stroke breathing causes a scissor kick for runners which create resistance.
Try and swim the full sprint distance 4 weeks before race day.
Thanks for all the suggestions - especially those who have given specific details of what she might be able to do during her time in the water to improve.
I just want to clarify. The swimmer is my mom and I am her son - since i started to doing triathlon, she wanted to start doing them too. In fact her first triathlon in Feb - we are doing it together. I would help her (i’m an ex-college swimmer), but I live across the country. There is no coach within an hour’s drive one way. Similarly, no masters program in the local area (using the masters program locater). She has fine technique. She has had private lessons when she first jumped in the water. additionally, i have worked with her as much as I can. No, her stroke isn’t perfect, but I’m pretty confident her technique is not holding her back. Looking at her stroke, it just seems like she SHOULD be swimming a lot faster than she is. Her turn-over is just very slow and steady. Her stroke seems natural, but I don’t know what to suggest to her to make her faster - thus I’m looking for suggestions on what type of workouts she should do for her 3 times a week in the water.
Again, thanks all for the positive feedback.
“base” for 100 yards is approx 2:20min (plenty of room for improvement!)
technique if fairly good - i don’t think it shouldn’t be holding her back
Pick one of those, but not both.
what do you mean by this?
she wants to get faster.
If there is no coach available and no masters program I would try following a swim program from a book. I know it sounds absurd to learn how to swim from a book, but once you have the basics down books can be a great help in refining technique and providing drills that isolate certain movements. Personally I like “fitness swimming” by Hines.
I would agree with others that techique must be an issue at that speed. Also strength may be an issue. Possibly start to incorporate swim specific strength exercises like bands. If her turn over is slow and her kick is strong, she simply may not be pulling efficiently. Get her to focus on the arm pull being the propulsive force rather than the kick. I see this often and it is very difficult to correct. Maybe look locally at the pool she frequents to see if she can get a weekly/bi-weekly or even once a month lesson/tune up for her stroke.
Without looking at her stroke, it is very hard to tell what the problem is. But I do know that the longer you wait to correct the stroke, the more she will practice poor technique. Fix it now and he will be on the road to improvement.
.
Thanks for all the suggestions - especially those who have given specific details of what she might be able to do during her time in the water to improve.
I just want to clarify. The swimmer is my mom and I am her son - since i started to doing triathlon, she wanted to start doing them too. In fact her first triathlon in Feb - we are doing it together. I would help her (i’m an ex-college swimmer), but I live across the country. There is no coach within an hour’s drive one way. Similarly, no masters program in the local area (using the masters program locater). She has fine technique. She has had private lessons when she first jumped in the water. additionally, i have worked with her as much as I can. No, her stroke isn’t perfect, but I’m pretty confident her technique is not holding her back. Looking at her stroke, it just seems like she SHOULD be swimming a lot faster than she is. Her turn-over is just very slow and steady. Her stroke seems natural, but I don’t know what to suggest to her to make her faster - thus I’m looking for suggestions on what type of workouts she should do for her 3 times a week in the water.
Again, thanks all for the positive feedback.
“base” for 100 yards is approx 2:20min (plenty of room for improvement!)
technique if fairly good - i don’t think it shouldn’t be holding her back
Pick one of those, but not both.
what do you mean by this?
she wants to get faster.
Cool. If she’s at a place where she can start swimming sets, and do maybe 1500-2000 per session, this book helped me a lot:
I think he means that either a person rolls 2:20 per 100 at threshold OR they have good stroke technique but NOT both. It may sound flippant, but honestly, he’s probably right on. I have seen so many dang people whose strokes “look good”, but where they are just emulating, not actually swimming. (I detail a particular case here: http://www.findingfreestyle.com/passive-technique-blog/freeyourmindandyourstrokewillfollow ).
You say her turover is slow, well, that is a clue and a half. Have her pull, without a buoy, and do some descending sets - if you swam in college, I am sure you can come up with a few interesting variations. In my experience, a slow turnover is the death knell to speed, doesn’t matter how long the stroke is. Anyhow, help her to get points of reference, quantify the turnover rate, set some goals for sets that involve changing that rate (regardless of the impact on speed or DPS), program the muscles to do new things, then let the body do what it does best - integrate these stimuli into newfound speed.
I think it’s great you are working with your mom on this. That must be a hoot. I wish you well.
It’s impossible to swim 2:20/100yds with good technique. The only way to swim that speed is to not pull any water whatsoever, or to be so vertical that it takes huge energy expenditure to move the water out the way, or to turn over so slowly as to stop dead in the water each stroke. In any case, that’s not swimming with good technique.
Find some drills that emphasise catching and pulling water. She needs to move water.
thanks for the tips. Clearly her stroke is not very efficient - which I think is at least partially due to lack of strength and not pulling efficiently as suggested above. would working with paddles help with this?
anyone have a specific speed-type workout to suggest for at least one of the days of the week?
I’ve been working with her technique a lot - i’ll continue to have her do drills etc. during warm up / cool down at minimum.
