#Swimming endurance workouts how to
#Swimming endurance workouts full

20×100 freestyle alternating 1 kick, 1 swim rest.

10×200 freestyle as 100 kick, 100 swim rest.

How you use them to accomplish your goal of increasing swim endurance can vary, but my preferred method is to pair whatever tool you are doing with regular swimming.įor example, one of the sets that I’ve used on repeat over the years-and is always guaranteed to get my face red and hot-is kick/swim sets.

And actually crank up the metabolic demand of the workout, improving overall endurance.

Reduce demand on the shoulders (or legs).

While some swimmers may use their gear as a crutch during workouts (*raises hand*), introducing different equipment can:

Swim fins, hand paddles, swimmer’s snorkel, pull buoy, kickboard-you name it, swimmers will stuff it into our swim bag and haul it down to the end of the lane and use it. Swimmers love their toys and swimming aids. Tracking and measuring your swim workouts will give you objective metrics that you can use to stay motivated and plot your training moving forward.Īfter all, how can you truly know for sure that your swim endurance is improving if you aren’t tracking it? Mix things up with equipment It can be easy to get lost in the weeds with all of the information that swim trackers can provide, so try and keep things simple and measure one or two things that matter most. There are plenty of ways you can track your laps while swimming, from smartwatches for swimming to smart swim goggles, to using the pace clock and your brain for tracking and remembering laps. Endurance isn’t just a distance metric, it can also be measured in speed. The longest, unbroken swim completed during the workout. This is the total number of laps you completed in the course of a swim workout. After all, how can you know if endurance is improving if you don’t have some numbers to quantify improvement? Improving swim endurance requires tracking some basic metrics.

Track your progress for added motivation. 2x īreaking apart distance will keep you more engaged and focused during your distance swim workouts as well-the shorter speeds and “more ends” will encourage you to push a faster pace.Of course, there are other ways you can break up those longer swims.Ĭarrying on the example of breaking up a 3,000m swim, here are some other ways you can tackle it: Long, unbroken swims have a place in your training, but if you really want to increase and improve swimming endurance, break it apart, use an interval that gives you rest that borders on uncomfortable, and go fast. The goal was sustained speed, not just swimming endlessly. Perkins and his teammates regularly did 30×100 freestyle, every Wednesday morning, averaging :56 to :57 per 100m (in a long course, Olympic-sized pool), an interval where he got around :30 to :40 rest. (He won gold in 19 Olympics in the event, and then won silver in 2000 behind another Australian.) One perfect example is Kieren Perkins, who twice smashed the world record in the 1500m freestyle during the mid-1990s while dominating the event for the better part of a decade. This form of training is nothing new to elite distance swimmers in Australia, who have absolutely dominated the distance events at the international level over the past few decades. If you guessed the 100s, you’d be correct. Let’s do the same distance, but this time break it up into 30x100s with around :20 to :30 rest between 100s.īetween the two sets, which one will net a higher average speed? Better technique? This allows you to swim longer with better technique while also holding a much faster average speed.Īs an example, let’s say that your goal today at the pool was to swim 3,000m relatively fast.ĭoing 3,000m swim straight, with no breaks, let’s say you hold an average pace of 1:30 per 100m. One of the things that elite swimmers know is that in order to be able to swim a long time with excellent technique and speed, you need to be able to build that performance.Īnd building that performance and endurance means apart the swim.

#Swimming endurance workouts how to

How to Increase Swim Stamina in the Water Break up your swims with intervals I’ll also share three common mistakes swimmers make when boosting swim endurance. While there is no magic set or “hack” that will overnight boost your swim stamina, there are some tried-and-true guidelines you can follow to ramp up your swimming without injuring yourself.īelow, I share some techniques and tips based on my own 30+ year swim career, as well as share insights from Olympic distance champions. More experienced swimmers may be trying to look to crank out a new PR.

#Swimming endurance workouts full

Swimmers are always on the search for how to swim faster and longer.įor swimmers just getting into the lap pool, they may be trying to make it to their full first mile in the water.