SwimPath Blog

Double Olympian and Swimpath pro Jemma Lowe is no stranger to the sport of swimming. First joining her local club at the age of 8 she is still going strong over 15 years later!!

But when you make your first Olympics at the age of 18, your 2nd at the age of 22, what is the secret to keep you getting up for those early sessions, training twice a day and devoting your life to a sport?

Have a look at this video from our October SwimCamp where Jemma describes how she first set her sights on Olympic stardom and how she keeps the fire burning for her quest to reach the big number 3...

There has been much debate recently regarding principles of training, with short, high intensity intervals gaining lots of momentum as the modality of choice for fitness enthusiasts around the globe. Safe to say the debate reaches far in to the swimming world also with the publicity surrounding USRPT (Ultra Short Race Pace Training) and its scientific standing within the realms of performance enhancement.

Its back drop is based on the notion of specificity - that is training the specific demands required for a racing situation and not entertaining metres for metres sake.

As advocates of all training parameters that herald a minimum dose response and subsequent performance enhancing effect, or in other words, training that will give you the most bang for your buck - we believe that there are intelligent training methodologies out there that are all too often untapped. Certainly in lite of historic and contemporary trends regarding the manipulation of volume above all else as a pre-requisite for improved performance, there is everyday an evolving plethora of scientific evidence for training efforts that can be termed - to use a current buzz phrase - as Ultra Short.

The premise of ultra short work is by no means a new one and its very foundations lay in the popular form of training known as intervals. This is where a bulk of work is divided into manageable sections with a manipulated work:rest relationship to yield desired results.

A traditional example of this might be that if an aerobic result is required, the coach may want a group of swimmers to swim for 1 hour with their heart rates between 130 and 150 beats per minute. One way is to just swim for an hour - although tedium could play its part here and if the swimmer disengages then their heart rate may drop to 120 or below and the desired outcome at the end of the hour may not be achieved. So an interval set is created, that may look like:

30x100 fs @ 1.30 (45 minutes) followed by 15x50 @ 60 (15 minutes; total 1 hour!)

And within this set the coach may ask for different intensities (every 4th 100 the middle 50 is fast etc) in order to make sure the heart rate doesn't become too static or again start to fall.

In essence this is fine, but in terms of swim training for competitive reasons, the argument against this type of interval training is that it has zero relation (except 1 repetition is the same distance as a 100m race!!!!!!!) to the specific demands of racing. So instead of using intervals to break up a timescale, ultra short work focuses on breaking up a race swim and dictates that all repetitions be swum at race intensity. It is therefore termed ultra short because at those speeds it is difficult to swim much further than 25 metres over multiple repetitions at 100 metre pace.

The very essence of ultra short work is, as previously mentioned, not a new one and coaches and athletes for many years have been prescribing multiple repetitions of 12.5 metre sprints, 25s at 100m pace or even 100s at 8/1500m pace.

More recently however, the evolution of the process into a structured format known as Ultra Short Race Pace Training (USRPT) has been made available to the world of swimming via its creator Dr Brent Rushall at San Diego State University in the USA. His research, findings and subsequent moulding into the USRPT format are supported by compelling scientific evidence as to the absolute benefit of this training modality and its requirement as a methodology for performance enhancement.

Within this format a set that might last only 10-15 minutes allows the athlete to swim over 4 times his or her race distance at the specific race velocity, thus training the body and the brain to adapt to endure the techniques required to maintain this speed. The premise of this, as with any type of interval training, is that the excess volume overloads the body's systems and makes it more efficient at performing the reduced amount come race day. However, compared to traditional work that would prescribe an hour of aerobic work, then a 30 minute anaerobic set to cover all bases, with USRPT we cover them all in just 15 minutes!!!

That is what we call bang for your buck training and some!!!!!

Well be looking a bit more in depth at Ultra Short training techniques in future posts - including USRPT; its wider foundations in the fitness world with regard to training phenomenons such as Tabata protocol and other  HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) modalities - so keep an eye out for some programming tips that could revolutionise the swimming world!!

In keeping with our favourite tradition of fast stuff first, here's a great little ultra short race skills set to improve the all important underwater phase in order to maintain that speed off the block and wall...
Firstly, apt to reiterate that the purpose of the underwater kick is to maintain speed off the dive and turn, not to develop it! In contrast to a running sprint where speed needs to be built rapidly over the first part of the race, a swimmer is never again travelling as fast in the water as the moment that they first enter after the dive! And never again in the race until the short accelerative burst off the wall...

This is important as it massively dictates the way we should be thinking about how we kick! And without at this point delving too much into the wonderful world of hydrodynamics, or that of Newton's laws of motion - it will probably suffice to say that the larger/wider/bigger an object is travelling through the water, the more the resistance there is slowing it down and that the more we move in the opposite way in which we wish to travel, again the greater the consequence.

Here's a quick snapshot of a swimmer performing underwater kicks with an excessive knee drop and we can see that as the knee bends to store energy ready to kick, the forward momentum off the wall is compromised owing to the thigh pushing water (propelling) in the opposite direction! Not only is frontal resistance increased greatly but the pitched knee then sets the angle for the down kick, which instead of driving water backwards, sends it diagonally down, the hips go up and the snowball continues! This could be mirrored with a horizontal thigh but an excessive heel lift creating the same effect but on the top side. Either way lots of effort here is needed but it just results in more energy being wasted as no speed is maintained and resistance is high = slow break out!!

So in order to maximise the maintenance of speed we want the kick to be small and fast, from the hips and as much as possible remain within the depth of the widest part of the body (usually the rib cage).

The kicks should stab backwards with the ankles plantar flexed and the torso and arms held in a fixed streamline position.

We also want to be able to endure up to 15m of these fast kicks without compromising energy expenditure: this is where the ultra short set comes in...

Try 12x15m underwater kicks @ 35-40 seconds.

The rest will not be quite enough to fully recover and fatigue will start to set in as the set progresses. Aim to fight the fatigue and maintain the fast tempo of the kicks - but remember, if it all breaks down, take a break!

Gradually your endurance to completing the set will improve and from there performing it 2-3 times per week will improve the speed at which you kick further as well as maintain your gains and promote the skill for transfer into race day!

Give it a try, small and fast! And do it first...

Over the past few months SwimPath have been taking applications for their newest venture - swimmer sponsorship - in order to support a new wave of young talent making their mark in the sport.

The concept is not only to provide the selected swimmers with kit with brand names galore (although there may be one or two!!) but also to provide a mentoring plan whereby the swimmers can gain access to SwimCamps, regular webinars and question/answer sessions with top coaches and Olympians; support in their own training environment: be it from a rest and recovery perspective or support with managing school and training; through to specific advice as to how to improve their skills, outside of those they are currently honing to a high standard in their home programmes.

Our aim is to see as many swimmers as possible involved in SwimPath's developing hub and to create a 'go to' place for support, advice, ideas and a place to share awesome achievements!

So if you haven't yet got in touch, drop us an email at info@swimpath.co.uk in order to register your interest.

Whether for sponsorship or just some new kit, get in touch today to become part of the SwimPath movement!!