Here are a few terms that you will need to know in order to fully understand the practices.
- Set
- A swim set is a grouping of swims that have a relationship to each other in many different possible ways
- Negative Split
- Swimming the 2nd half of any swim faster than the 1st half. If you are swimming a 100 yard freestyle you would try to make the time for the second 50 faster than the first 50.
- Progressive
- A progressive set is one where each swim that you do within a set is faster than the previous swim. Sometimes practice occur where the whole set will progressively faster than the previous set.
- Tempo
- How fast your arms move through the movement of a stroke. There are ways to measure this with a watch, but for your practice, this will be done by feel.
- RI
- This is short for rest interval. How long you should take between swims in a set. Taking no rest can lead to mindless swimming so when doing the practice make sure you take the rest that is recommended.
- Interval
- A set of swimming where you leave on a set time period. Swimming a 50 every minute would be an example of this. How much rest you get will be determined by how fast you go with is the difference between this type of training and do a set with rest intervals.
- Sculling
- A drill where you sweep your hands in and out on the same plane in front of your body. Best done with your face in the water. You can use some kick to help propel you, but the main focus is to try and figure out the angle of your arms and hands give you the best propulsion.
- Stroke Count
- When swimming a length of the pool, counting how many arm rotations it takes to get to the other end. This can be done with any stroke.
- Time Average
- When do a set of swims of the same length, trying to do the same time on all of them.
- Breast pull
- Similar to skulling, this is doing the breastroke without using your legs. Your hands will do an out sweep on one plane and do the in sweep farther back under your body ( closer to under the neck or the chest). When skulling we try to stay on the same plane. With breastroke pulling it is more a circular motion.
- Sreamline position
- This is the position that all strokes are based off of. Basically you are trying to get in the most efficient position in the water as possible. The body will be in a straight, long line with your hands on top of one another. The will be over your hear squeezing the ears. The idea is to create as little drag as possible in the water. A good exercise is to push off the wall in this position and see how far you can glide. The better your position, the farther you will go.
- Backstroke Kick
- Doing a flutter kick on your back. It is best done in a streamline position, with your arms squeezing your ears. Your hips should be right at the surface, and your knees and feet should be slightly underwater. If you have trouble staying afloat in this position, an alternate way to do the exercise it to keep your hands at your sides.
- Hypoxic Training
- Training while limiting your air intake. This can be a good method of developing efficiency in the water as well as developing lung power. This should always be done in a monitored setting and never should be over done. Always better to be safe than to be sorry.
- Bilateral Breathiing
- This is a method of breathing while doing the freestyle where you alternate sides that you turn your head to take a breath. The basic rhythm would be to breath every 3 arm strokes, but this can also be used as a way of doing some hypoxic training if you breath every 5th or 7th stroke. This is a good way to balance your stroke out and not get leaning on one side too much.
- Neutral Kick
- A drill where you kick with your arms to your sides. This can be done with any stroke where you are on your stomach. A good exercise to work on proper body alignment and creating minimal drag on the water. An excellent exercise if you have a snorkel.
- Dolphin Kick
- An kicking exercise where you kick with both feet together in an undulation motion. The motion initiates from the core and the leg bend is minimal. Keeping your head relatively still helps with forward motion. This is a good kick to do while in the neutral position.
- Dolphin Kick on your back
- Same exercise as dolphin kick, but done on your back. This can be a more challenging drill, especially when done in the streamline position. Excellent core exercise.
- 12 beat kick
- This is a freestyle drill where you slow your arms down to half speed while maintaining your kick at full speed. The idea is to put both areas of forward propulsion on independent suspension. A great drill for developing a kick that doesn't stop while using your arms.
- Heart rate measurement
- Taking your pulse for a 6 second period and multiplying by 10 to get your pulse rate for a minute
- Aerobic Threshold
- The pulse that you as individual can maintain an aerobic exercise without building up lactic acid. This will be different for all people with many different factors ( age, body makeup, fitness level) involved in determining what that threshold is. It is very important that you stay within safe boundaries when doing any aerobic type exercise.
