Staying fit in the pool is all about mixing up your workouts. Summer swim practices should challenge you body helping you get into your best swimming shape. According to Olympic swimmer Ricky Berens, practices may not be fun but they are important because short-term goals, like practice, help you achieve your long-term goals.
Going Distance
Swimming for distance is important to have in practices because it will help to build muscular and aerobic endurance. Gaining endurance will help enhance your swimming skills. Start your warmup with a kickboard for 200 meters. Then begin your pyramid for distance. Complete 500 -meter freestyle and rest for two minutes. Then complete a 400-meter freestyle followed by a minute and 30-second rest. Then complete a 300-meter swim with a one-minute rest and then a 200-meter swim with a 30-second rest. If you are feeling strong, then repeat this cycle again starting with 200 meters and working your way back up to 500 meters.
Tabata in Pool
Tabata training can be done in the pool to challenge your anaerobic threshold. Tabata training is a form of interval training. The American Council of Exercise recommends interval training for practice because it uses the aerobic and anaerobic energy systems. Tabata training requires only 20 seconds of intense effort followed by a 10-second recovery. This cycle is repeated eight times. In the pool sprint for 20 seconds and recover for 10 seconds by swimming very slowly. Do three full rounds of Tabata training.
The Beast
The beast is a workout that involves speed and distance. Simply do 10 freestyle 100-meter swims. Each 100 meters should use maximum effort and only a minute recovery. This workout will strengthen your cardiovascular endurance and prepare you for all races.
Change of Stroke
It is important during your practice that you work on all your strokes. Each stroke works different muscles. Swim the 100-meter butterfly, 100-meter backstroke, 100-meter breaststroke and 100-meter freestyle. Then swim eight 100-meter individual medleys, meaning one-lap butterfly stroke, one-lap backstroke, one-lap breaststroke and one-lap freestyle. Repeat this eight times.
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