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Masters Swim Progression Program

Author

Tony Rich

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Length

8 Weeks

Typical Week

1 Other, 7 Swim, 3 Strength

Longest Workout

1:04 hrs

Plan Specs

swimming

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Summary

This 8 week program, designed by a practicing Masters swim and triathlon coach, is for triathletes, current masters swimmers or fitness/pre-masters swimmers looking to improve mechanics and fitness to become Masters swimmers, or get better at swimming for their existing Masters swim team and progress to a more competitive lane.

The workouts are focused on speed strength and endurance. Learn drills for all 4 competitive strokes.

Learn all of the Masters swim terminology and "lingo." Learn how to conduct field tests to determine your T Time, cruise interval or base interval.

The program comes with a calculator that allows swimmers to understand how to understand the relationship between stroke rates, stroke lengths and their impact on velocity.

Learn key techniques for swimming Masters such as the underwater dolphin, streamline position and a 5 step flip turn sequence to learn proper flip turns and open turns.

Progress to improve your Individual Medley (Fly, Back, Breastroke, Freestyle) and the proper turn transition for each stroke.

The program comes with discount codes for swimming products and apparel from FINIS and Xterra.

Stats

Training Load By Week

Average Weekly Breakdown

Average Weekly Training Hours: 05:08

Training Load By Week

Average Weekly Training Hours: 05:08

Average Weekly Breakdown

Tony Rich

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Sample Day 1

0:40:00

1372m

Swimming Field Test/Speeds

Depending on the masters team you swim with and the coaches, you may be introduced to a variation of field tests to guage your swimming ability and pace.

Here are three of the more common field tests. Pick one of them that suits you best. Retest every 4-6 weeks.

Warm up

150 Freestyle swim

150 Flutter kick

***Field Test 1***
What you are trying to determine is your average 100 yard pace for the test and have a basis for progression.

Freestyle swim 1000 yards as fast as you can and then divide your finish time by 10. This is your T-time.

Your T time is a moving target. As your fitness level improves we'll need to retest approximately every 6-8 weeks ot find your new T time to guage your progression and speed in the water.

The more times you do this test the more accurate your T-time will become as there is a learning curve that has to do with pacing in the first few minutes when doing this test.

**Field Test 2***

This field test is called your Cruise Interval.

10 x 100 Freestyle with 10 seconds rest between.

Take note of the total time it takes to complete all 10 including the time for rests.

Convert that time to seconds. Divide by 10. This is your Cruise Interval in seconds.

Swimmers with the same Cruise Interval are typically asigned to the same lane.

***Field Test 3***

This field test derives what's called your Base Interval.

Swim 5 x 100 at maximum effort on 10 seconds restI. Note the gross time for the swim, convert it it to seconds and subtract out the cumulative time for the rest intervals (in this case 4x10s=40s).

Take this number (your net swim time), divide by 5 to get an average pace for your 100s and add approximately 10 seconds to this number to determine your Base Interval.

Swimmers with the same base interval are assigned to the same lane. Many of the workouts are written to include base intervals. (e.g., swim at base minus 2 seconds)

Cool Down

200 Swim

***Speeds***

Remember when you swim you should have 5 speeds/zones by RPE (Rate of Perceived Exertion).

Zone 1 Warm-up/Recovery
Zone 2 Aerobic/endurance (Cruise/Base pace)
Zone 3 Threshold (85% of Max)
Zone 4 Sprint 1/Anaerobic (90% of Max)
Zone 5 Anaerobic/Max Effort (95 to 100%)

Sample Day 2

1372m

Masters Swim Progression

Freestyle Swim Technique Day

Do a 300 warm up. Pick a few of the drills below and work on them. I recommend you use products including pull buoys, paddles, fins, and even a tempo trainer if you have it.

Streamline
http://bit.ly/YEHxtK
http://youtu.be/noWC_bdf0VA

These two videos provide an overview of the importance of mastering streamline. Maximize the free speed off the wall.

Front Balance
http://youtu.be/euM1DdnK58I

Six kick switch
http://youtu.be/sqN3D7YCbZg

These two drills help train your horizontal body position and rotation. Well over two thirds of your velocity in the water is attributed to the minimization of drag resistance. These two drills will help.

Vertical Flutter Kick
http://youtu.be/DbMlY5r6Akw

Straighter Leg Kick
http://youtu.be/VcIWgNqr0tw

Most of common propulsion issues stem around getting a better payback on your flutter kick. One of the ways to work on that payback is with the vertical flutter kick drill and kicking with only a slight bend in the knee.

Pull Drills/Paddles
http://youtu.be/-48XEtSoqRM
http://bit.ly/QxiI0q

In addition to using your pull buoys (or pants), I suggest that those of you who don't have paddles to get some. Paddles aid your power and consistency in your catch and your pull. In addition to the pull buoy drill where you're isolating the upper body movements, you can also try this pull buoy drill where the pull buoy is at the ankles.

Fingertip Dril/Wrist Drag
http://youtu.be/3D8Ad1GHA2o

Trains the high elbow recovery. Particularly helpful to those that have a significantly dropped elbow on recovery. Can also do this with a kickboard.

Catch up/Distance per Stroke
http://youtu.be/CTTUIR3qBnw

If you're looking to increasing your DPS (distance per stroke) like most swimmers, this is a helpful video and drill with paddles.