Try This Training Set: Developing Backstroke Underwaters

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Try This Training Set: Developing Backstroke Underwaters

Welcome to Swimming World’s Set Of The Week! This week’s set is a backstroke set designed to focus on controlling and maintaining underwater kicks in your race. Take a look at the set and its description below:

5 Rounds:

:10 all-out vertical dolphin kick

Rest :10 on wall

25 underwater FAST on 1:00

4 x 50s backstroke hold kicks, descend 1-4 on 1:00

As you can see above, this is a backstroke set that is very focused on developing fast, consistent underwater kicks. Done as five rounds, this set totals 1,000 yards and is a great secondary set to include at the end of a workout to continue to tax the legs.

Each round begins with 10 seconds of vertical kicking, where the goal is to reach or exceed the same number of dolphin kicks that a swimmer would normally take to get to the 15-meter mark. This requires a pretty high tempo for most athletes, but should remind them of 1) the size of their kick amplitude and 2) how they are using their core and legs to get to that tempo. This full-body awareness should stay with them as they move into the swimming in the rest of the round, starting with the 25 fast underwater which should be at the same kick tempo.

Following the 25 underwater, swimmers will do 4 x 50s backstroke descend 1-4 on 1:00. The trick is that swimmers will be holding their number of dolphin kicks throughout the four 50s, meaning the descend will need to come from the power they put behind their legs and their stroke one top of the water.

For a lot of athletes, this set can be very mentally taxing. Don’t be surprised to see athletes fall off of their kick counts in the middle of the set, but do encourage them to stay on their legs and stay engaged with what they are doing on each swim. There should be plenty of rest throughout the set, so use that opportunity to give feedback to your athletes to keep them aware during the set and putting forward their best effort. Happy swimming!

All swimming and dryland training and instruction should be performed under the supervision of a qualified coach or instructor, and in circumstances that ensure the safety of participants.

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