A BETTER PROGRAMMING STRUCTURE FOR SWIMMING TRAINING
Termin, B., & Pendergast, D. R. (2000). Training using the stroke frequency-velocity relationship to combine biomechanical and metabolic paradigms. Journal of Swimming Research, 14, 9-17.
[Editor's note: Normally, a study that does not contain a control group would not be abstracted and published. However, when population norms exist, and an evaluation of a population subset is performed, results can be compared to those norms. This is one such study. The performance improvements of a group of mature swimmers are compared to the accepted norm of 1% per year.]
This investigation evaluated the performance improvements in 100- and 200-yard freestyle swims of male swimmers (N = 21) over a four-year college career. Ss entered this program after experiencing conventional, excessive-distance programs. The alternative college program of training was structured according to known and verified principles of training. That program contrasted dramatically with conventional swim training that focuses on vast amounts of over-distance training, often in combination with dry-land strength training, and a season ending taper to recover from prolonged overtrained states to reflect some level of performance improvements.
The University of Buffalo program embraced four phases.
Incorporating these phases into weekly work consisted of two days of phase-specific work followed by two days of recovery work. Recovery consisted of low-velocity short-distance warm-up swims, short high-velocity swims (~15 seconds, 2-3 minutes of rest), and an emphasis on biomechanics and the skills of turns and starts. These cycles ensued swimmers could always perform high quality work and avoided overreaching (the accrual of excessive fatigue). No strength training was performed.
There is an inexactness of comparing a "package" of experiences with another. However, there are two features of this program that make it stand out. First is the absence of debilitating fatigue and continual overtrained state. The second is the emphasis on fast swimming, produced mainly by ultra-short swimming.
This is a program for mature swimmers, that is, those who have stopped growing.
Implications. A training program that emphasized increasing stroke frequency and swimming velocity, while providing adequate rest to avoid recurring accumulated fatigue, produced swimmer improvements markedly above accepted normative rates. The value of balancing progressively higher-quality work with adequate recovery for training effects to occur was clearly demonstrated.
The conventional model for swimming (over)training, one that violates most known principles of physical training, should be questioned. Perhaps swimming is a sport where all participants and coaches adopt a form of training that limits improvement potential because of a cultist approach to the sport. Clearly, a change is in order.
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