SwimSwam wants to give you an inside look at what a normal day-in-the-life looks like for any given swimmer, and how that differs from team to team or city to city. We send our head of production, Coleman Hodges, to be a fly on the wall at practice, then relay what he discovered back to you over pancakes. Or at least breakfast.
Originally Published 11/18
Right before their annual Art Adamson Invite (see more on that here), the Texas A&M women had a pretty normal Thursday afternoon practice. Which included a lot of things that might not be so normal if you aren’t an Aggie.
After warm up, they got right into with a myriad of swim toys. They had 4 different stations: parachutes, weight belts, fins, and mesh socks. Each station they were focusing on something a little different and using the equipment to emphasize that small detail of their technique or speed. Plus, when the stations would rotate, the swimmers just took off the equipment, then the coaches would move the equipment over for maximum time efficiency. Win win situation.
After equipment stations, they got right into 2 rounds of countdown 50’s. Round 1 was stroke (butterfly/backstroke on :50, breaststroke on :55) and they went:
10×50 (4@ pace + 2, 3 @ pace + 1, 2 @ pace, 1 FAST)
Round 2 was freestyle, same pattern, also on :50.
Just to be clear – weight belts, mesh socks and parachutes either increase resistance or decrease buoyancy and therefore make you swim slower in the water, not faster.
6:23 Coleman no bullu BibleThump
Thank you! Good to see the Aggies make it work!!