Mark: Our time is precious, so how do we get the most out of a short workout? Well, today
I'm going to specifically be talking about a 30-minute swim. After all, that is all that
many of us have time for. For others, it may simply be all that they fancy doing. Currently,
that is the time limit on bookings available to you for certain swimming pools out there,
so let's dive on in. [background music]
Now, we'll be giving you some 30-minute swim workout examples today, but to start off we've
actually wanted to run through a few tips to help you get the most out of those 30 minutes.
Just because you're going to be jumping in for a short period of time, that doesn't mean
you should cut the warm-up and warm-downs out because they're still absolutely crucial.
They tend to be the first thing to go when people are pushed for time. Of course, you
can cut them down or shorten them to a degree, so perhaps just a couple hundred meters max
for the warm-up and maybe as little as 50 to 100 meters for the cooldown. Build into
the warm-up. That will allow you just to warm your body up, get the blood flowing around
the body, get the muscles ready for the workout ahead, and then the cooldown serves as a way
to gradually bring that heart rate back down and also flush some of the waste products
out like lactic acid. That's the start and the end of the workout
sort of, but it's the bit in between that, the main workout, that I really want to focus
on today, because if you can only swim for 30 minutes then you want to be really specific
in what you're trying to achieve in those 30 minutes. For instance, is it a speed workout,
is it a technical swim workout, or is it as simple as just an aerobic workout? You want
to arrive knowing what you're trying to achieve, and really focus on that and be fired up ready
to do that rather than just aimlessly swimming up and down, hitting a mishmash of everything.
Following on whatever type of workout you're trying to do, you should still be factoring
recovery into that. One of the biggest mistakes you see for those that are time-pressured
is that they more or less swim non-stop for the entirety of their swim. Again, this comes
back to the previous point about trying to be specific in the workouts. If you're trying
to do a speed workout, for example, on minimal recovery, I can tell you now it's not going
to end well, and you certainly will not be getting the training benefit from it as you
should be. Again, that leads me on because it is time
to just accept that a 30-minute swim is shorter. You're not going to cover 3 kilometers like
you might ordinarily do in an hour's swim or close to that for that matter. In fact,
for most people, it's going to be somewhere in the region of 1,500 meters tops and that's
fine. Accept that and focus on those 1,500 meters being good quality and time well spent
rather than trying to aimlessly eke out a few extra lengths purely for it to look good
in your training diary. Whilst we're talking about quality, now's
a pretty good time to discuss technique, as I'm sure many of you already figured out swimming
is a hugely technical sport. That means poor technique leads to inefficiency in the water,
basically like you're fighting yourself through the water. I am a big advocate of sorting
out your technique before adding mileage on. In fact, I've known a lot of swimmers that
have become better and faster swimmers of less mileage but having improved their technique.
In fact, if you have spent a bit of time out of the water lately, which many of us have
done, then I suggest that being a big focus at the moment. On that note, I've got a few
session examples here for you to use. Of course, do feel free to adapt and change them to suit
yourself. I'll start with the technique workout as I've
just been talking about that. Warm-up with just a steady 200-meter swim, then into the
main set, four lots of 25 meters as 10 meters scull, 15 meters swim, then into 100 meters
swim with a nice good form. Then four lots of 50 meters as 25 meters drill of your choice,
25 meters swim, then into 100 meters swim with good form. Four lots of 25 meters kick
with a board, 100 meters swim with good form, then finally four lots of 50 meters pull with
paddles if you have them. Then into 100 meters swim with good form, taking 20 to 30 seconds
recovery between all the reps and finishing with a nice easy 100 meters warm down. Well,
that is 1,300 meters there in that set, but obviously feel free to reduce the distances
or maybe even take a whole set out of there. If you do want a reminder on some drills that
you can implement into that or even how to do the scull drill, I'll throw you to those
videos at the end of this one, but now for a speed workout.
Starting out with 100 meters swim to warm up then into 100 meters building to a strong
pace. Now we're ready for the main set. 12 lots of 50 meters as every 4th 50 max effort,
the remainder easy, taking 30 seconds recovery between each of the reps. Six lots of 50 meters
as every 3rd 50 max effort, the rest easy, taking 25 seconds recovery between each of
the reps. Then finishing with three lots of 50 meters as every single 50-meter max effort,
taking 20 seconds recovery between each of the reps. Then warming down with 200 meters
nice and easy, bringing that to a total of 1,250 meters.
There we go. There's two pretty good example swim workouts that I think you probably get
the picture in terms of format now. Start with a little warm-up, you've got the main
set, and obviously finishing with a little warm down. Use the same format perhaps over
some longer aerobic swim reps in that main workout too. Ideally, you want to make sure
that your week has a bit of variety to it so that it hits different fitness and training
zones. For example, you might do one aerobic swim and one-speed workout, and then you might
even want to alternate that between weeks with a technical workout or a strength workout
for example. Finally, I'm not totally writing off the straight
swim despite everything that I've said today. By that, I mean literally swimming constantly
for the entire 30 minutes or perhaps even just taking a couple of short breaks within
that. There is a place for that. It's good for your muscular endurance and obviously
will help for triathlon races that tend to be over those longer distances. All I say
is just make sure you mix it up, which obviously I've discussed today. You've got a nice variety
in your training and not all your swims end up like that.
I hope you have enjoyed today's video. If you have, give it a like, give it a thumbs
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