Deliberate Warmup

Quiz: How often should you drill? 

  1. Once a week
  2. When my coach makes me
  3. When I feel like it
  4. Every day

If you answered D, you’re correct! Some days you might drill more and some days less, but each time you swim I encourage you to work on some aspect of your stroke.

If you swim with a team and have coached workouts, take it upon yourself to create a deliberate warm up. Warm up tends to be relaxed and is the perfect time to practice drills learned in a lesson or from this blog.

Let’s take a typical Masters warm up:

400 swim 

300 pull 

200 kick 

100 swim 

Here are some ideas on how to incorporate drills into this warm up without drastically changing what you are being asked to do (please be mindful of your lane mates if you choose to drill during warm up).

For the 400 swim, focus on exhalation and bilateral breathing.

Examples for the 400 swim (choose one):

  • Repeat the mantra bubble, bubble, breathe on the first length of each one hundred then focus on a constant exhalation for the remaining 75.
  • Every 4th length breathe to your non-favorite side.
  • 25 breathe left, 25 breathe right, 50 breathe every 3rd stroke. 

For the 300 pull maintain the same focus as the 400 or focus on your catch. 

Examples for the 300 pull:

  • Start each 100 with a 1/2 length scull followed by 3 1/2 lengths of pull.
  • 1/2 length scull, 1/2 length doggie paddle, 75 pull. 

The 200 kick will be dependent on the use of fins. 

Examples for the 200 kick:

  • With fins, do 50 kick on your left side, then 50 kick on the right OR try working on your rotation by utilizing the 6/1/6 drill (6 kicks, 1 stroke, 6 kicks).
  • No fins? No problem. Ditch the kick board and work on a stellar streamline off each wall with a smooth kick for the remainder of the length.

Take the last 100 swim to tie what you worked on together.