Can I tell you a secret? The drills, the stroke tips, the basic workouts here are not that much different than what you'd probably get at any stage of swimming. Not that I would know! Just, most of the time it doesn't seem to me swim coaches give a lot more swim instruction than what you've gotten here.
What makes most kids fast is just swimming. Yards in the pool. Time spent. Time invested. In these workouts there are three main set yardage totals, depending on whether you're a Guppy, a Tarpon or a Tuna. I'm usually swimming Tarpon or Tuna yards. I like to swim straight sets of around 1200 to 2000 yards. When I think my stroke is suffering I go back to the very same drills you've been given here.
Not that I'm a super swimmer. This series is about you not me, but I'll give you my experience for reference. I didn't start to take swimming seriously until I was in my 30s. I just got tired of coming out of the water behind my mates. What cured me was 3 things: swimming in a Masters program; fixing my posture in the water via the drills contained herein; and just the decision to do it.
Many or most of you have at least the physical ability I had, so that's quite attainable. It's mostly the will to do it.
What are the limiters? Age, for one thing. I find I can swim farther at a given speed now than faster at a shorter distance. But I'm 61 and I can still get after it pretty well. I don't know when I'll need to throttle back my ambitions but I'm not there yet.
Here's what I won't do: hypoxic sets. Anecdotally, a number of people I know my age who've been hard at it for 40 years, gas pedal to the floor, have heart arrhythmias. I had to deal with some atrial fibrillation 10 years ago. As a result I live like I should (sleep 8 hours), I don't drink, I don't worry (that's a trained skill), I don't go all-out ever, and I don't asphyxiate myself with hypoxic sets. I breathe every second arm stroke and sometimes immediately, left to right, or right to left. (See Gary Hall, Sr. on this, or forum threads on 2:3 breathing.) I don't think anything hypoxic done when in your 20s is good for you when you're in your 50s (and by hypoxic I mean holding your breath or restricting your breathing).
I'm still a horrible kicker. It's depressing. But if you're like me, this never slowed me down that much. It didn't keep me from being a serviceable triathlon swimmer.
Arm strength, and overall body strength? Swimming is the only sport I've ever done where the technique for going fast doesn't come naturally. This is especially true with "high elbow anchor". I've got a VASA Ergometer, and the value of this (or an analogous) device is that I can build the strength out of the pool to perform good technique while in the pool. Best just to show you what I mean. Watch this short video.
I find that at my age it's difficult to get all the strength needed to perform good technique during swimming. The value of a device like this is that you work until you lose form, and then you stop, recover, and go again. You really can't do that in the pool without limiting yourself to very short intervals with pretty long recovery, and I don't want to be limited that way in the pool. Hence something that allows you to work on high elbow recovery out of the pool. (Remember when I wrote in an earlier installment about forming a "paddle" with your entire forearm, from elbow to fingertip? That's another way of describing "high elbow anchor".)
That's it! That's all I got! You're out of the nest! Just bear this in mind: In a poll just taken on our Reader Forum, one-fourth of all who took this poll said that what they wanted most that they don't have is a good Masters swim team. This is key! Look for this. Go on our Reader Forum and ask. Say, "I'm in [wherever you live], does anyone recommend a Masters swim team?"
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Guppy Challenge, Week-9, Workout-1
Warm-up => 6 x 50yd freestyle, easy, 10sec rest between each 50.
Style set => 8 x 50yd: first 25 Slow arm recovering with hesitation; second 25 regular freestyle.
Kick set => 4 x 50yd, with or without zoomers, but the last 2 should be without zoomers.
Main set =>
GUPPIES => 6 x 200yd, on your interval
TARPONS => 8 x 200yd, on your interval
TUNAS => 10 x 200yd, on your interval
=> 100yd, easy freestyle
Total Guppy yards this workout: 2200
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Guppy Challenge, Week-9, Workout-2
Warm-up => 6 x 50yd
Style set => 3 x 100yd: first 50, Slow arm recovering with hesitation; second 50 regular freestyle
Style set => 6 x 50yd: with bound ankles, with or without snorkel.
Main set =>
GUPPIES => 1000yd, for time. See how much progress you’ve made since the last time you did this.
TARPONS => 1500yd for time.
TUNAS => 2000yd for time.
Warm-down => 100yd, easy, alternate freestyle and stroke.
Total Guppy yards this workout: 2000
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Guppy Challenge, Week-9, Workout-3
Style set => 4 x 50yd: With bound ankles, with or without snorkel.
Style set => 4 x 50yd: first 50, Slow arm recovering with hesitation; second 50 regular freestyle
Kick set => 4 x 50yd, with or without zoomers, but the last 2 should be without zoomers.
Main set => 50s party!
GUPPIES => 30 x 50yd
TARPONS => 8 x 200yd
TUNAS => 10 x 200yd
Warm-down => 100yd, easy, alternate freestyle and “stroke”.
Total Guppy yards this workout: 2200
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Guppy Challenge, Week-9 Workout-4 Extra Credit!
Warm-up => 6 x 50yd
Style set => 3 x 100yd: Swimming with bound ankles, with or without snorkel.
Style set => 4 x 50yd: first 50, Slow arm recovering with hesitation; second 50 regular freestyle
Kick set => 4 x 50yd, with or without zoomers, but the last 2 should be without zoomers.
Main set =>
GUPPIES => 12 x 100yd swim
TARPONS => 16 x 100yd swim
TUNAS => 20 x 100yd swim
Warm-down => 100yd, easy, alternate freestyle and “stroke”.
Total Guppy yards this workout: 2300
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Guppy Challenge, Week-9, Workout-5 Double Extra Credit!
Warm-up => 6 x 50yd freestyle, easy, slow, establish a leave interval that gives you 10sec rest between each 50.
Style set => 4 x 50yd: Swimming with banded ankles, with or without snorkel. Or, 1-arm pulls, as previously described.
Style set => 4 x 50yd: first 50, Slow arm recovering with hesitation; second 50 regular freestyle
Kick set => 4 x 50yd, with or without zoomers, but the last 2 should be without zoomers.
Main set =>
GUPPIES => 8 x 150yd, on your interval (5sec to 10sec rest between each)
TARPONS => 10 x 150yd, on your interval
TUNAS => 12 x 150yd, on your interval
Warm-down => 100yd, easy, alternate freestyle and stroke.
Total Guppy yards this workout: 2200
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Total weekly GUPPY yardage
If you do the first 3 workouts: 6,400yd
These plus the 4th workout: 8,700yd
All 5 workouts: 10,900yd
