Swimming Technique and Active Recovery Session
Swimming workouts designed by Heidi Fearon
A.
I.
4 Minutes of Hip Flexor Mobility of Your Choice
4 Minutes of Anterior Shoulder Mobility of Your Choice
4 Minutes of Quad Mobility of Your Choice
4 Minutes of Lat & Subscap Mobility of Your Choice
Focus on relaxed breathing throughout these mobility drills. If you cannot breathe properly, the stretch is too intense and you need to back off to the place where you can maintain a rhythmic breathing pattern.
II.
Before today’s session, check out this link for a good tutorial regarding body position and this link on common swimming errors.
Warm-Up Technique Drills
Four sets of:
25 Meter Finger Tip Drag
25 Meter Stroke Count
Rest 15 seconds
Followed by…
Four sets of:
50 Meter Breathing Drill – focus on breathing as your hand enters the water to ensure that you’re not breathing late
Rest 15 seconds
Followed by…
One set of:
100 Meter Kick
Main Set
Pick a pace that gives you no more than 10 seconds of rest on the 50 at 70% effort, and double that time for the 100 and 200 meter efforts. Maintain the same pace throughout the pyramid – total yardage is just under a mile. If this is too much for you, cut the work in half. Note your times for a good benchmark for your pace.
Four sets of:
50 Meter Swim every 35/40/45/50/55/60 seconds
Followed by…
Two sets of:
100 Meter Swim every 1:10/1:20/1:30/1:40/2:00
Followed by…
Two sets of:
200 Meter Swim every 2:20/2:40/3:00/3:20/3:40/4:00
Followed by…
Two sets of:
100 Meter Swim every 1:10/1:20/1:30/1:40/2:00
Followed by…
Four sets of:
50 Meter Swim every 35/40/45/50/55/60 seconds
Cool Down
200 Meters – Drill of Your Choice
B.
Mobility and Maintenance
* Choose 1-2 Thoracic Mobility Drills from Kelly Starrett’s Mobility WOD and spend 5-10 minutes with them.
* Choose 2-3 Lower Body Mobility Drills from Kelly Starrett’s Mobility WOD and spend 10-12 minutes with them.
* Choose 1-2 Upper Extremity Mobility Drills from Kelly Starrett’s Mobility WOD and spend 5-10 minutes with them.
– AND/OR –
* Body work from a licensed body worker (ART, Graston, acupuncture, etc…)
C.
Inflammation Maintenance
* This could be a lot of things, but think in terms of compression (we love the NormaTec units at Invictus), electrical muscle stimulation (Compex or Marc Pro), contrast baths, salt baths, castor oil packs, etc….
D.
Nutrition Preparation
* Ensure that you have quality foods prepared in the appropriate quantities to fuel your efforts for the remainder of the week.
E.
Mental Restoration
* Different for everyone – could be meditation or could be gathering with friends; the key is to engage in activities that make your life full and help you recharge your batteries.