Swim Smooth's Perfect Pyramid A
Swimming, September 25, 2024
This is a steady endurance-building session. This session has been designed for swimmers and triathletes returning to the pool who want to further develop their endurance.
For swimmers who are after a workout between 1,000 & 2,000 metres.
The inspiration for these sessions came from an article by Swim Smooth read it here.
- 200m WU;
- 6x 50m Drill/Swim;
- 100m 10sec RI;
- 200m 10sec RI;
- 300m 10sec RI;
- 300m 10sec RI;
- 200m 10sec RI;
- 100m;
- 200m CD (1,900m)
Start the workout with a Warm Up (WU) by swimming 200m. During the warm-up feel free to stop and stretch as needed. It doesn’t need to be a continuous swim.
Next up is a drill set to enhance your technique. it is made up of six reps of 50m. Swim 25m doing an appropriate drill prior to continuing on with regular or normal swimming to complete 50m continuously. Pause prior to conducting the next repetition for a total of eight repetitions. Use fins for this set. Work through the below drills three times through.
The pause referred to above is a stop of about 10 seconds. It’s a chance to grab a drink, review the programme and think about the next drill you will do. If you need 15-20 seconds or longer, you are welcome to take it because the rest duration isn’t physiologically critical to the aim of this set. Having a quick break is neurologically critical though, so make sure you don’t just roll straight from one rep to the next.
Some examples of drills can be found by clicking on the name below:
- Kick On Side (KOS) right side
- Kick On Side (KOS) left side
- 6/1/6
- 6/3/6
- Broken Arrow
- Popov
After the drill is set, take your fins off.
The next set involves a pyramid where you start off swimming 100m before taking a ten second Rest Interval (RI) before swimming the next rep which is 200m. Continue increasing the distance by 100m each time until complete a 300m rep. At this point decrease the reps by 100m each rep back down to a single rep of 100m. Take a ten second Rest Interval (RI) between each rep.
That's six reps for 100m, 200m, 300m, 300m, 200m, 100m).
For the Cool Down (CD) swim 200m. Unlike the previous sets which have to be freestyle, the cooldown (like the warm up) can be any stroke you wish to swim. You can also stop and rest after any length. I encourage you to stop and stretch during the cool down.
If you would like further advice feel free to contact me.
I am the Head Coach & Director of Qwik Kiwi Coaching.
I specialise in assisting first timers and recreational athletes to achieve their sporting goals. I can be contacted at coachray@coachray.nz and 021 348 729.
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Originally Published: https://www.coachray.nz/2020/07/25/saturday-swim-session-swim-smooths-perfect-pyramid/