A Triathlete Beginner's Swimming Workout (That Everybody Can Use)

Swimming is my absolute favorite workout/sport, there’s nothing else I rather do than jump into the water and swim for hours. Of the three triathlon’s segment, swimming it’s my favorite one.
I like not only the physical effort but also the sensation of calm and quite that comes when the water surrounds the body.
People are always asking me how I don’t get bored by just doing laps in the pool.
In a way, this concern is legitimate, if you’re just going back and forth, over and over again (“without a plan”) swimming might get boring in the long run. That’s why it’s so important to have a workout program to follow: it will break the routine and it will make you become a better swimmer.
So, I thought of posting the classic workout designed for beginners’ triathletes but that can also be followed by anyone who’s willing to improve in their swimming.

Start focusing on form and endurance...speed will eventually come

First golden rule of swimming: achieve correct form. Meaning that you should start working on technique. It might take a while but once you have mastered it, it will definitely change your swimming experience.
The correct form checklist includes: maintain horizontal position in the water, correct shoulder rotation, leading with the forearm, finishing the stroke, head position, and and both-sides breathing.
If you’re missing on any of these it might be a good idea to take a one-on-one lesson with a swimming instructor (money well spent!)
Once you have achieved correct form you can start working on endurance. Don’t worry if at the beginning you’re struggling in the pool and spend more time standing at the end of the lane catching for breath than swimming. Endurance will eventually come with training.
Start by doing shorter sets and to get proper recovery time in-between. Once you have mastered the shorter ones you can get to the next level.

Start slow, speed it the last thing you want to focus on at the beginning. Don’t get frustrated if more skilled swimmers are passing you while doing laps. They’re probably more trained; but in a couple of months you’ll be able to match them.
I see this happening all the time when I’m training in not-reserved lanes. People just love to try to keep up the pace of faster swimmers; the result is that after 1 maybe 2 laps you can see them leaning on the pool’s edge gasping for oxygen.
Instead do your own thing and do not pay attention to what’s happening around you (and that applies not only to swimming but also to your life in general!)

The workouts

Let’s assume that you have correct form and can also swim for at least 400m (this means doing 16 laps in a standard 25m pool).
Then you might want to give these workouts a try. Starting with the shorter sessions will allow you to control your form throughout the workout, because if fatigue kicks in your technique will soon fall apart. Once you feel at ease with the shorter ones you can definitely move to the longer ones.

400 meters workout:

• Warm-up: 4 x 25
• Main set (rest 30 seconds between each set):
• 2 x 25 with pull buoy (concentrating on body position)
• 1 x 25
• 1 x 50
• 1 x 50
• 1 x 25
• Cool-down (at slower pace):
• 1 x 25
• 1 x 25

800 meters workout:

• Warm-up (rest 15 to 30 seconds between each set):
• 1 x 25
• 1 x 50
• 1 x 75
• Main set (rest 30 seconds between each set):
• 2 x 25 with pull buoy
• 2 x 25 with board kick (i.e., just using your legs)
• 1 x 25
• 1 x 50
• 1 x 75
• 1 x 100
• 1 x 75
• 1 x 50
• 1 x 25
• Cool-down (at slower pace):
• 1 x 75
• 1 x 50
• 1 x 25

1200 meters workout:

• Warm-up (rest 15 to 30 seconds between each set):
• 2 x 50
• 1 x 1000
• Main set (rest 30 seconds between each set):
• 2 x 50 with pull buoy
• 2 x 50 with board kick
• 1 x 50
• 1 x 100
• 1 x 150
• 1 x 150
• 1 x 100
• 1 x 50
• Cool-down (at slower pace):
• 1 x 100
• 2 x 50

When you can manage the 1200m workout easily you might start focusing more on speed bringing taking note of the time you need to complete the overall workout or the single sets.
Also you can alternate an endurance workout with a more focused form workout (we’ll talk about those in another post!)

How often?

If you can manage to swim at least 2 or 3 times a week you’ll see results happening pretty quickly. Also, the more you swim the more you’ll feel at ease in the swimming pool and the more you’ll want to swim.

Considerations

Swimming is a great workout that addresses almost all muscles in the body with a low impact on joints. Plus, thanks to the cold therapy it burns a massive amount of calories.
Now that the winter is almost over you can’t hide behind the fact that it’s too cold to jump in the swimming pool!

The Iron You