Why Not Just Swim?

People just beginning to swim normally think a workout consists of swimming as much as you can, or doing chunks of distance with rest in between. After all, isn't that what we see on television or in area pools-people swimming over a length of time?

Sure it is, but often times we forget what it takes to complete such a task. No strong swimmer simply swims when he jumps in the pool to practice. Rather than merely hammering out as many laps as possible before being dog tired, he crafts a workout that blends speed, endurance, and technique.

Every single workout has a focus, such as distance or speed, and the drills you select to support that goal are specific to the training you plan on doing. Without including drills in each session, you reduce the amount of true progress you will make and you fail to remind your body about the correct way to perform the skill. In the end, drill-less sessions make for less efficient swimmers, and it is those swimmers who end up being frustrated by underperformance.

So, to better structure your swim workouts, think about the following suggestions on when and how to involve the drills in your session. Being knowledgeable and having a plan when you get to the pool will let you become a better swimmer by the time you exit the water that same day.

1. As part of the warm up: if you plan on working on a specific skill throughout your session, for example lengthening your reach, then you should use a series of drills during your preparation to set a clear foundation for the work you plan to do. Placing the drills here will put your mind in the proper frame of reference and it will let your body become accustom to the goal. You must get yourself mentally set for the training session, and using drills up front enhances the connection between what the mind knows it needs to do and what the body will be asked to do repeatedly.

2. During the session: Splicing drills into the middle of the swim set is a great way to remind the body of what the goal is. During the body of a workout, you tend to focus on completing the distance you wish to finish or meeting some type of time requirement. During such a time period, concentrating on form is nearly impossible. Therefore, breaking up those timed or distance-based sets with some short drills lets you correct technique that may have been compromised during the longer sets.

3. During the cool down: Normally this portion of the sessions is slower and simpler. Therefore, doing drills here in an exaggerated manner lets you close the workout with an emphasis on the desired technique. Only swimming a few slow laps lets that portion of the session become empty, and any good athlete knows that every moment spent training should be one that revolves around progress.

If your swimming has an in-season and an off-season, drills should be used more heavily, and in some workouts exclusively, during the time when competition is not the emphasis. You can keep up your conditioning while making sure that your overall goal is perfecting form to become more efficient.