Read First – Details about my workouts

THE FREE DAILY WORKOUTS ARE BEING POSTED EVERY DAY HERE: https://myswimmingworkout.substack.com

On this page you will find important information about the workouts. If you have any questions, please send a comment in the specific workout page and I will answer as soon as possible.

• Nomenclature I use. I am going to try to keep the workouts easy to read and understand, however, I use a lot these acronyms:
  • FR: Freestyle, BA: Backstroke, BR: Breaststroke, FL: Butterfly
  • IM: Individual Medley, which means: FL, BA, BR, FR.
  • Rev IM: Same as above, but in reserve order: FR, BR, BA, FL.
  • Desc 1-3. Descending 1 to 3. It means that there are 3 rounds in the set (i.e. 3×100) and you should swim faster as you swim them.
  • Easy Swim: Slow and easy swimming, the goal is to reduce the heart rate and get ready for the next set or as part of a Cool Down.
  • Sprint: All out swimming. I mean… ALL OUT.
• Interval Timing. All of the workouts include time intervals, as it is the standard in the swimming community. Working with interval timing provides many great benefits:
  • Allows managing your time in the pool much better than counting time for rest periods. As an example, If the workout says 10×100 FR @ 2:00, you know that:
    • You have 2:00 to swim the 100 FR and rest
    • You ave 20min to complete the set.
  • Allows measuring progress incredibly better than any other method. Following the same example above, by swimming and resting the 100FR in 2Min you will be able to notice your progress by having more time available to rest as you get back in shape, and also, it allows you to DECREASE the interval when you feel ready for a more challenging set.
  • A great video that explains how Interval Timing in swimming works can be found here
• All of the Warm-Up sessions are written on one page, you will see the link in each daily workout. Check out the options HERE.
• All the workouts time intervals are based on 1:30 base for 100 yards and above, 1:00 for 50 yards and 30 seconds for 25 yards. Depending on your level, experience, and objectives you will need to adapt the time intervals and distances. See below for details, it should be very simple!

How to adapt the workouts to your needs

• Time intervals. Do you know your 100 yards base? If you don’t, just do the following: after a quick warm-up, swim 10 x 100 yards and time yourself for each 100. Don’t go super easy and don’t go all out. When you are done, average the 10 times. That’s a good baseline time to start, you will improve as you go.
  • Depending on your base time for the 100 yards, adapt the time. Example: If you averaged in the exercise above 1:40, use 1:40 for every 100 @ 1:30 you’ll see in the workouts (3:20 for 200s, etc). Similarly, if you are faster and your 100 base is 1:15, use that time.
• Distances. The workouts will average a distance of 3,000 to 3,600 yards. Depending on the time you have for swimming a daily workout and your base time (calculated above), you will need to reduce or (why not? Ironman Triathletes!) increment the volume. I recommend the following:
  • To swim a well-round workout, DON”T skip sets. (That’s right, don’t skip the warm-up or kick sets!!). Instead, increment or reduce by %. Example: If the workout is too long and you want to reduce by 50%, then simply reduce distance across the entire Daily workout like this:
    • Original Warm-Up: 400 FR @ 6:00 to a reduced Warm-Up of 200 FR @ 3:00
    • OR, it might be better to reduce the set this way: From 10×100@ 1:30 to 5×100 @ 1:30

Is there any recommended equipment?

While not 100% necessary, I recommend bringing to the pool a Kicking Board, Fins and Paddles. You will see in some of my workouts that I ask to put them on, especially on strength and/or power training days.