While at the 2024 Knoxville Pro Swim, SwimSwam caught up with 2024 Women’s Swimming Olympic coach Todd DeSorbo, who shared his 2 favorite sets to give his athletes during winter training.
- 8×50 @ 8:00, Fins + Paddles, ALL OUT (LCM)
- 4x (13×25 Kick @ :30 ALL OUT, 3:00 rest, 75 Free ALL OUT)
Contrary to many swim coaches during winter training who want to bury their athletes with heavy workloads, UVA head coach Todd Desorbo wants to continue the work that his athletes have been doing up to that point. That way, his goal is when the athletes come out of winter training, they are swimming FAST.
Todd is obviously one of the great coaches. However, he said favorite, not toughest. I’m sure they still do longer, probably tougher sets.
if you know how to swim fast 8×50 gets you vomiting….
Hands down best swim coach in country
Honestly…imagine if Michael Andrew began training under DeSorbo. I’m sure most commenters will hate this.
Plus having a training group and not having your dad as your coach
Not gonna happen.
That could be great. Training with a team could be better for Michael’s performance and mental health. Unfortunately it would be devastating to the family brand, especially if Michael improved without Peter Andrew’s schtick.
What is the family brand now?
I’m guessing it’s the MA Swim Academy. I don’t know much about the mission or product, but I know it’s what he represents in competition.
A Costa Rican beachcomber.
Every time I see “MASA” next to his name at meets my brain immediately reads it as a word and I feel just a liiiiiiiiiitle racist for having done so.
50 meters or bust.
Fat chance!
MA… overrated. Will never bounce back from that last 50 in Olympic 200 IM
Will Michael Andrew ever medal in the men’s 100 meter breaststroke or butterfly?
no. Not at this point. 1:00 isnt getting him close to a 58 low which is what he will need to even stand a chance in Paris.
not overrated.. Just needs to find some proven coaches, which of course will never happen.
Hes moved on from being good lately too. I think this training style would fit him perfectly and most people swimming 200s and below
Michael Andrew is overhyped and overrated.
I think anything is better than Peter Andrew at this point but what exactly has Desorbo done with male IMers?
Good point. I guess we will find out next season.
Well, he coaches the men’s and women’s team, right? I think the ladies have done ok.
The biological, physical and emotional differences between male and female collegiate athletes cannot be overstated. Saying Desorbo does well with ladies does not mean he will do well with men (see the last 5 years of UVA men)
I always think this. The talent that kid has is incredible and I feel like he has wasted it by training only under his father. ASU, UVA, Texas.. what could have been….
“Coaches who want to bury their athletes” is interesting wording. I’m sure giving kids yardage during winter is out of a desire to bury them.
not necessarily bury them, but so many coaches have this winter training default mode where they are obsessed with the volume. to a point where they neglect keeping their athletes sharp with sets like these
You can get buried with intensity just as easily (actually mores so and to a greater extent) as you can with volume.
Yes but when a swimmer is ‘buried’ it’s probably 99% of the time due to volume, not intensity.
False.
an offshoot topic: I cannot remember who it was but one of Sandpipers stars said that they don’t use winter break as an opportunity to ramp up and instead they come down a little bit and enjoy the holidays. This is only possible because Sandpipers sets their own schedule and don’t follow the early December taper, recover and then build for a March taper schedule. I think it is one of the unfortunate things about swimming, that it is setup to not allow for a winter holiday break.
I recently discovered that this is what most of Australia does as well: have a big December meet then take a few weeks to go light/enjoy family time/go to the beach kind of thing.
Obviously, both methods have seen success which I find really interesting
Who was it from Sandpipers that said they did this? I think you did the interview?
I believe it was Ron, the head coach
That’s because March is summer in Australia. Our breaks come in the summer too, it’s just different timing.
It sort of depends on your geo. There are a lot of early December championship meets in a lot of places that would allow for a winter holiday break. Then there are places where it’s not set up for that (NCAA, Texas, Indiana, etc).
It is the only time during the season where the team is comprised of just “athletes” and not student-athletes. Increase the volume and expect them to spend time throughout the day recovering because they don’t have classes or conflicts. Once the semester begins, decrease the volume because their focus between 8am and 5pm should be on academics and not athletics.
It take it more as: we do it because it’s the only time we can versus we do it because we have to.
Sure, “bury” has pejorative connotation — but if we’re being honest, cranking unusually large amounts of volume has long been the tradition during winter break. “Kids aren’t in school and can just take extra naps – let’s do TRIPLES!” Most coaches increase the load on purpose. DeSorbo doesn’t, and he’s pointing that out.
That is how it seemed when I swam. See how many brutal sets we can fit in during a week.
That’s so much rest! I wish I was a college swimmer nowadays.
If you’re really going all out, they’re exhausting
Not 10×400 IM in am and 10×500 free in pm exhausting
Counterpoint: They are both really exhausting.
This is coming from someone who was a sprinter in college and is now a middle-distance triathlete. They are different kinds of hurt.
Do UVA men and women programs practice together?
Yes
yes
whatever he is doing, he’s doing it right.
well for the woman at least
Give it time. His men’s team has been dropping impressive amounts of time. They simply have lagged behind the women in terms of recruiting. I think that the potential exists for the men to start to move up. They need more sprinters to pull it off though.
They’ve consistently grabbed top 20 and HM recruits – their distance guys just don’t drop and their high school heavy hitters only drop a small amount compared to other men in college
Uhhh that Jack Walker class was absolutely stacked and they seem to get a plentiful amount of top 20/HM/ sub 3.00 power index guys.
The excuse that the men don’t get enough good recruits is tiresome
He inherited a much stronger women’s team and then managed to get traction with recruiting once he had Douglass and Nelson. The true test of whether he can do it with the men is going to come the next 2 or 3 years. With Williamson and Heilman committed, the momentum is there and he should have the scholarships to build more for the following class, too.
Except wearing the wrong size hat