Dryland Training for College Level Swimmers

Introduction

This post is a follow up to the last one on Dryland Training. If you read through the last blog you have probably surmised that I am not a big fan of weight training. I am not convinced that a swimmer should exclusively be in a weight lifting program only. I believe there is a place for weight training in college swimming, just not for distance swimmers. I believe that a hybrid weight lifting and dryland training program will be the most effective method to helping swimmers gain land strength that transfers to the water. However, for this to happen the weight/dryland training program must focus on strengthening functional movements and provide exercises that increase flexibility and land based endurance. I put this dryland training program in place for last season to help those who were not able to lift weights for various reasons. I am interested in hearing the opinions from those who read this post. If you would like to comment please do so at the bottom of the post.

BYU SWIMMING AND DIVING 

Distance Group Dryland Program 2019-2020 

Mission: To develop a better foundation of strength in order to apply more force and power in the distance swimmer’s respective events in order to have improved performance. 

Purposes: Create a dryland routine that does the following: 
1. Builds strength and enhances endurance training by exercises done in gravity 
2. Causes the muscles to work together synergistically 
3. Enhance anaerobic capacity and provides the foundation for speed in the water 
4. Prevent future injuries 
5. Train movements for greater functional strength in the water to compliment what is done in the water 

Methods: 
1. Plyometric exercises 
2. Running 
3. Medicine Balls, Dumbbells and Kettle bells 
4. Jump Ropes 
5. Calisthenics Body weight exercises 
6. Core work 
7. VASA Trainer and Ergometer 
8. TRX and 4 D Pros 
9. Active stretching 

Program Phases: 
1. September 5 to 28 Foundational Strength Phase 
2. September 30 to October 18 Basic Strength Phase 
3. October 21 to November 13 Strength Endurance Phase 
4. November 14 to 20 Recovery Phase 
5. November 25 to December 22 Strength Endurance Phase 
6. December 27 to February 10 Power Endurance Phase 
7. February 12 to February 19 Recovery Phase 

Program Outline 

Foundational Strength Phase September 5 to 28 
1. Focus: Core body work and body weight exercises-done in a circuit 
2. Use this phase to teach correct movements 
3. Specific Exercises (45 to 60 minutes in a circuit type set up) 

Basic Strength Phase September 30 to October 18 
1. Focus: Core body work, body weight exercises and foundational strength-swim specific 
2. Emphasis on correct movements that simulate in water technique 
3. Specific Exercises (45 to 60 minutes in timed sets and 2-3 rounds) 
a. Core work 
b. Running 
c. Calisthenics 
d. Jump Rope 
e. VASA Trainer and Ergometer 
f. Plyometric 
g. Medicine Ball, dumbbell and kettle bell 
h. Body weight exercises 
i. 4 D Pros 

Strength Endurance Phase October 21 to November 13/ November 25 to December 22 
1. Focus: Core body work and body weight exercises performed at the speed of movement needed to simulate swimming speeds-timed reps to train for the desired tempo for in water races 
2. Specific Exercises (45 minutes with more built in recovery between exercises) 
a. Core work 
b. Calisthenics 
c. Jump rope 
d. VASA Trainer and Ergometer 
e. Plyometric-using tubing and TRX bands with an emphasis on tempo of movement 
f. Medicine ball, dumbbell and kettle bell-with an emphasis on tempo of movement 
h. Body weight exercises 
i. 4 D Pros 

Recovery Phase November 14 to November 20/ February 12 to February 19 
1.Focus: Core body work with active stretching and maintenance exercises to protect the gains from previous phases 
2. Specific Exercises (40-45 minutes of exercises, tapering down to allow for more rest to help prepare the body to compete at the highest levels possible) 
a. Core work 
b. Light calisthenics 
c. Light tubing for stretching and muscle warming purposes 
d. Jump Rope for light cardio purposes 
e. TRX bands for technique purposes 
f. 4 D Pros 

Power Endurance Phase December 27 to February 10 
1. Focus: Core body work with body weight exercises performed at the speed of movement needed to simulate swimming speeds-timed reps to train for the desired tempo for in water races. 
2. Specific Exercises (40-60 minutes of exercises, with more rest built in to increase effort and insure proper technique is being used, timed reps for tempo purposes) 
a. Core work 
b. Calisthenics 
c. Medicine Ball, dumbbell and kettle bell 
d. VASA Trainer and Ergometer Plyometric 
e. TRX Bands and 4 D Pros 

Sample Schedule for Foundational Strength Phase September 5 to 28

Monday/Thursday 
1. Run 15 minutes 
2. Exercises done in a circuit (30 reps each exercise for 45 minutes) 
a. VASA Trainer 
b. Jump Rope 
c. Tubing Freestyle pull throughs (tempo focus) 
d. Planks 
e. Push-ups 
f. Jumping Jacks 
g. Crunch-Left/Rights 
h. Tubing-Bent Elbow Backstroke Twisters 
i. Streamlined leapers 
j. Crunch flutter kicks 

Tuesday/Friday 
1. Run 15 minutes 
2. Exercises done in a circuit (30 reps each exercise for 45 minutes) 
a. VASA Ergometer 
b. Jump Rope 
c. Tubing-Breaststroke Arms 
d. Crunch Accordions 
e. Reverse Push ups 
f. Lunge Leapers 
g. Crunch Trikes 
h. Tubing-Backstroke Clappers 
i. Burpees 
j. L/R Accordions 

Wednesday Morning-Off 

Sample Schedule for Basic Strength Phase September 30 to October 18

Monday/Thursday 
1. Run 15 minutes+5 minutes of stair work in Smith Field House 
2. Exercises done in a circuit (30 reps each exercise for 45 minutes) 
a. VASA Trainer/Ergometer 
b. TRX/4 D Pros: Reverse Pull ups 
c. Jump Rope 
d. Medicine Ball Overhead slams 
e. Mountain Climbers 
f. Tubing: Triceps Press 
g. Med Ball Partner Sit up and toss (Plyoball?) 
h. Med Ball “Speed” Triceps Press 
i. Tubing: Fly Recovery 
j. TRX/4 D Pro Accordions 

Tuesday/Friday 
1. Run 15 minutes 
2. Exercises done in a circuit (30 reps each exercise for 45 minutes) 
a. Med Ball Crunch Twisters (Plyoball?) 
b. TRX/4 D Pro Biking 
c. VASA Trainer/Ergometer 
d. Med Ball 1 Legged Chest Pass to partner (or wall) 
e. TRX/4D Pro Reverse V-ups 
f. DB Squat and throw to streamline 
g. Med Ball Partner Press and Pop 
h. Jump Rope 
i. DB Lunge and throw to streamline 
j. Med Ball Standing Left-Center-Right-Center Twisters 

Wednesday Morning-off 

Sample Schedule for Strength Endurance Phase October 21 to November 13/ November 25 to December 22 

Monday/Thursday 
1. Exercises done in a circuit (30 repetitions each exercise with stretching after the exercise, 45 to 50 minutes) 
a.  VASA Trainer/Ergometer 
b. Med Ball Push-ups 
c. Med Ball Pilate Toss w/partner 
d. Jump Rope 
e. Med Ball Traveling Push-ups (left-Center-Right-Center) 
f. Med Ball Pilate Toss w/Partner 1 up and 1 down 
g. TRX/4 D Pro Mountain Climbers 
h. Jump Rope 

Tuesday/Friday 
1. Exercises done in a circuit (30 repetitions each exercise with stretching after the exercise)
a. DB Lunges 
b. DB Breaststroke Squats to streamline 
c. Tubing: Free Pull Throughs 
d. TRX/4 D Pro Push-ups 
e. TRX/4 D Pro Fly Kicking 
f. DB Squats to streamline 
g. DB Shoulder Shrugs 
h. Tubing: Bent Elbow Backstroke Twisters 

Wednesday Morning-off 

Sample Schedule for Recovery Phase November 14 to November 20/ February 12 to February 19 

Monday/Thursday 
1. Exercises done in a circuit with emphasis on speed and exactness 20 reps each exercise 30 to 40 minutes 
a. Jump Rope-two foot or alternating 
b. Tubing with therabands 
c. TRX/4 D Pro Dives to Streamline 
d. Crunch Twisters Tubing: Choice of exercise 
e. Planks 

Tuesday/Friday 
1.  Exercises done in a circuit with emphasis on speed and exactness 20 reps each exercise 30 to 40 minutes 
a. TRX/4 D Pro Dives to streamline 
b. Crunch left/rights 
c. Tubing; Fly Recovery 
d. Push ups 
e. Tubing: Backstroke Clapper 
f. Jumping Jacks 

Wednesday morning-off 

Sample Schedule for Power Endurance Phase December 27 to February 10 Monday/Thursday 

1. Exercises done individually for decreasing reps with increase tempo-Reps 30-20-10 for 45 to 50 minutes 

a.  VASA Trainer/Ergometer (Focus is on goal splits times and tempo) 

b. Med Ball Crunch 1-2-3 

c. Tubing: Back Clappers 

d. DB Lawn Mowers to streamline reach 

e. Jump Rope 

f. DB Squat and Throw to streamline simulating dive off blocks 

g. Med Ball left/right V-Ups

h. Med Ball Crunch flutter kicks

Tuesday/Friday 

1.  Exercises done individually for decreasing reps with increase tempo-Reps 30-20-10 for 45 to 50 minutes 

a. TRX/4 D Pros: Butterfly Kicks 

b. DB Lunge and Shoulder Press 

c. Med Ball Combo Lift: Triceps Press-Shoulder Press 

d. TRX/4 D Pros: Mountain Climbers 

e. Med Ball Press and pop w/partner 

f. DB Shoulder Shrugs 

g. TRX/4 D Pros Push-ups (12-10-8) 

h. Plyoball Ab In and Out V-ups 

Wednesday morning-off 

Summary-the Goal of Distance Group Dryland Training Program

This dryland program is designed to be both flexible and adaptable to the individual needs of the student-athletes. Exercises, repetitions and other elements can be added or deleted depending on a number of factors. Rehab exercises can also be added to the program using tubing, VASAs and light calisthenics. The program can be used to teach important skills that will carry over into the water. Tempo can be trained on the VASA, VASA Ergometer and tubing exercises, streamline position can be taught and used on many of the medicine ball, dumb bell exercises and calisthenics. The program will help to improve, and enhance the aerobic and anaerobic levels in the student-athletes, as well as serve to provide the student-athletes with weight bearing exercises so very important to bone density, as well as using gravity to help with land base endurance that will help in water endurance.

Dryland Training Ideas

Introduction
For this blog I have chosen to provide a list of activities and exercises that I have used in my dryland training sessions done in the past. These activities and exercises represent just small number of the things I have done with my swimmers.

I am a strong believer in dryland, rather than the weight room for high school/club swimmers. At the college level I have come to believe that the weight room is good for some, while dryland or some type of combination of the two is best for college level/age swimmers. What I can tell you is that strength and endurance on land based activities does enhance in water strength and endurance, especially if the land based activities has a focus of functional strength.

For all of the dryalnd activities I have conducted. I constantly endeavored to make them so that they were all movements that would enrich, carry over and enhance in water movements. I have tried to follow the philosophy of Strength and Conditioning Coach Vern Gambetta. I believe that expecting the same tempos on land, and a nearly same movement on land and in the water translates into faster and stronger swimmers. For example, after we first started this type of dryland in Tacoma,Washington with my high school teams, girls and boys, at Wilson High School I saw a great deal of growth in the student-athletes. One girl's season saw the girl's team achieve 90% life time bests at the District Championships and then two weeks later at the state meet. In fact I can tell you that not only did those who shaved for districts have LTBs, those who did not shave also had LTBs. An added bonus was that at the state meet those who shaved at the state meet had LTBs in both prelims and finals. The same is true of the boy's team. The boy's team during their fourth year of doing the dryland program had 100% LTBs at state prelims to finals and they won their third in a row Washington State High School Championship, which represented Wilson's 28th State Swimming and Diving Championship in 40 years.

Here are are some of the dryland activities we did:     

Ladder Challenge 
Explanation: Start at 1 Rep each exercise and go up to 5 Reps, and then back down to 1 rep. When arriving at 5 reps make sure you are repeating 5 reps twice before going on to 4-3-2-1 rep for each exercise. If you complete 1-5 and 5-1 reps each exercise you will complete 300 total reps. If you can do 1-10 reps each exercise you will complete 1100 total reps. The goal is to complete a GOAL number of reps in 60 minutes

1. Uncle Rob's Push ups
2. Jumping Jacks
3. Breaststroke Squats
4. Russian Twists (left-right=1 rep)
5. Flutter Kicks-2 or 4 count=1 rep)
6. Mountain Climbers (left-right=1 rep)
7. Streamline Leapers
8. Streamline Lunges (left-right=1 rep)
9. Ballet Squats
10. Streamline Toe-raisers

Conclusion: If you start at 1 rep each exercise and go up to 5 reps and back down again you are doing 200 total reps. If you go to 10 reps and then down you are going to do 1200 reps total. Done fast this will help you increase your endurance and functional strength.

Ab Endurance Challenge
Explanation: For this challenge you will be doing a set number of reps in one to five AB exercises followed by a short run/jog. It is recommended that you start out small, maybe one or two Ab exercises and building into this challenge before starting with five different exercises. It is highly recommended that before starting you should have set a GOAL for the number of reps you want to complete in 60 minutes. Keep going for one hour, counting the number reps you complete at the end of 60 minutes.

1. Jog for 1/5th mile
2. 20 Reps Crunches
3. 20 Reps Accordions
4. 20 Reps Flutter Kicks-2 count
5. 20 Reps Russian Twists (Left-Right=1 rep)
6. 20 Reps Left/Right Crunches (Left-Right=1 Rep) then start with number again.

Conclusion: As you go through this challenge keep track of how far you jog and how many rounds you complete in 60 minutes. If you can complete 10 rounds in this challenge you will have jogged 2 miles and completed 1000 Reps

Upright Challenge
Explanation: For this challenge you will always be on your legs, no Abs in this one. It is similar to the Ab Challenge only you will be doing reps on your legs.  For this challenge you will be doing a set number of reps in one to five exercises followed by a short run/jog. It is recommended that you start out small, maybe one or two exercises and building into this challenge before starting with five different exercises. It is highly recommended that before starting you should have set a GOAL for the number of reps you want to complete in 60 minutes. Keep going for one hour, counting the number reps you complete at the end of 60 minutes.

1. Jog for 1/5th mile
2. 20 Reps Jumping Jacks
3. 20 Reps Squats
4. 20 Reps Lunges (Left-Right=1 rep)
5. 20 Reps Streamline Leapers
6. 20 Reps Breaststroke Squats-then start with number again.

Conclusion: As you go through this challenge keep track of how far you jog and how many rounds you complete in 60 minutes. If you can complete 10 rounds in this challenge you will have jogged 2 miles and completed 1000 Reps

Endurance Challenge 
Explanation: For this challenge you are going to do a team run for 60 minutes to 120 minutes. This challenge might be in place of a water workout and would conclude with a team activity such as a team breakfast, or stretching session, or short water session with games. For this challenge you will need a safe jogging course that is easily followed. The team should run together and have two stops if you are jogging for 60 minutes-every 20 minutes, and 3 stops for 120 minutes-every 30 minutes. During these stops you should do a brief motivational thought and some type of exercise for a 10 minute period of time. Feel free to adjust the number of stops and what you do during this stop.

Team Record Challenge
Explanation: For this challenge you will select one exercise and perform that exercise for the entire time. For example you wight set a time frame of 20-30-40-60 minutes. You could also select two exercises and do 10 minutes of one and 10 minutes of another up to 20-30-40-60 minutes. At the end of the time period calculate the total number of reps performed by each person and that becomes your team record for that exercise until you try it again. It is important to remember that when doing this challenge you want to be ready for the exercise and the time frame. So do not start at 60 minutes of crunches unless you are ready for it. Here are some recommendations:

1. Crunches
2. Flutter Kicks
3. Jumping Jacks
4. Squats-all varieties
5. Mountain Climbers
6. Step ups using a step aerobics bench, or curb
7. Lunge Leapers
8. Squat leapers

Conclusion: As you go through this challenge the participants will begin to take pride in their accomplishments if you will share with them the number of reps achieved, and keep track of them for history. Then the next time you do this challenge you can point out that last years team did "this many reps, so today are going to break last year's record".

Team Challenge
Explanation: For this challenge you would need to divide up your team into smaller groups-by stroke, by class in school, by age, by gender (have a boys v boys and girls v girls,or even a girls v boys). Take up to 60 minutes and give each team an exercise, or series of exercises and see who can complete the most total reps in the allotted time. Some recommendations:

1. 2-3 teams of 10 members-can be two teams of 10 boys and 2 teams of 10 girls. Five team members would be doing the exercise(s) and 5 would be counting the number of reps. You could yell "switch" at certain time segments to have the counters become the exercisers. I have always liked doing two or three exercises and then switching half way through. At the end of the time period gather the total number of reps completed and add them together to determine a winning team. A good combination of exercises are:
a. Jumping Jacks and Crunches
b. Mountain Climbers and Flutter Kicks
c. Step ups and Streamline leapers
d. Breaststroke Squat and Push-ups

Conclusion: This challenge is a great way to bring your team together and have them work with, and get to know new people. You can always keep track of the winning team's total and that could become your team's team record for those exercises. The next time you do this challenge through that number out as the number to beat.

Summary

I believe in a well thought out and programmed dryland session. I believe that the ideal dryland set up is to have in done three to four times a week. In doing this you must be creative and alternate your exercises to keep things fresh and boredom out. Being creative is very important. In addition to building strength and endurance the dryland can help you bring your team together and create a great culture of pride, hard work and togetherness.

At Wilson I was fortunate to have a good friend, Chris Luther who was exceptionally helpful and a key part of our success. He once built for us sleds that held on person. To each sled he had two ropes attached that were used by a team of swimmers to pull who ever was in the sled. Each sled was manned by 7-9 people. 6-8 would pull, 3-4 on each side, and one would ride in the sled to be pulled. As the Dryland Race Challenge started each team of pullers and rider were lined up behind a starting line and then Chris would sound his whistle the teams began their race. We raced around the school property which included a hill climb. After a certain time period Chris would blow his whistle and then a puller would slip into the sled to become a rider and the rider became the puller. We did this until each team had completed one to two trips around the school property. Everyone had a chance to pull and ride in the sled. It was great fun but it was also a great challenge to see which team finished first.

On another occasion, Chris brought several logs to practice. Each log was painted a different color. The color of the log represented the weight of the log. Again for a Team Challenge we divided the swimmers up into groups of 8 to 10 on a team. The groups were given a log based on their strength and size. The groups were then lined up behind a starting line and upon the whistle began a run around the school. There was one catch however. Upon the sound of the second whistle each team had to do 20 sit-ups as a team while holding the log. Upon completion of the sit-ups they had to get up and continue the run while carrying the log. There were usually 5 to 6 blows of the whistle so everyone completed 100 to 120 sit-ups as a team. This was a great activity and it helped to bring the swimmers together, as well as helped create a culture of working together to achieve a common goal.

These are just two examples of how you can use dryland to help build endurance strength and endurance that carries over into the pool, build a TEAM culture and a culture of working together to achieve a common goal.

Recommended Reading

1.  https://www.functionalpathtrainingblog.com/2009/11/suggested-readings.html. This website contains a "recommended" reading list of articles and books about function strength and endurance training.
2. Athletic Development: The Art & Science of Functional Sports Conditioning, Vern Gambetta. Available through Amazon and on Kindle
3. Gambetta method : common sense guide to functional training for athletic performance, Vern Gambetta, Gary Gray, Jimmy Radcliffe, Jason Soncrant

The Art of Planning-Part 3 Filling in the Blanks

Introduction

In Part 2 I addressed the "nuts and bolts of planning. In reading and re-reading that post I realized there was some detail left out. I want to use this post to try and fill in the missing pieces, or in other words fill in the blanks that were left out.

Beginning to write the Season Plan

When you sit down to write your seasonal plan I think it is imperative that you know how you are going to divide up your season. For example I would look at what meet will be the main meet which you will ultimately prepare your swimmers to peak, or taper for in hopes that they will achieve their goal times and swim really fast. Once you have selected this "championship" meet you can take the following steps:

Step 1 The Start
1.  Calculate the number of days in your season. Start by working backwards. Count the number of days from day one of the championship meet back to the first day of the start of your season. This becomes the number of days that you will plan for in the given season. Most seasons will last anywhere from 71 to 120+ days. In American swimming the "short course" season typically runs from September to March or first of April. a typical high school season can be anywhere from 60 to 82 days. A few high school activities associations have seasons that last over 90 days.
2. Determine what your seasonal goals are going to be.
3. Determine, and select the days and dates of your holidays/training breaks, the competitions you want to use as stepping stones to the championship meet.
4. Determine the training phases or periods, and their length and what you feel you need to focus on.
5. Determine how much volume you want to achieve during each of these phases. 

Step 2 Writing the Plan
Before writing the actual plan I recommend that you create your own monthly blank calendar, or obtain a monthly blank calendar either online or at your local Office Depot or Staples. It is easy to create one of your own using Google Sheets or Microsoft Excel or another spreadsheet program. I have attached a sample at the end of this blog. The advantage to creating one yourself is that you can organize and put the detail on your calendar that you feel is important.

The next step is for you to divide your season into the training phases/periods that you are comfortable with and are important to you. There have been articles published by US Swimming and ASCA on the phases that you can use. You may have to search for the articles but they are on their respective web sites. I use the following terminology to describe my seasonal plan's phases:

1, Preparation Phase
2. Endurance Phase
3. Specialty Phase
4. Transition Phase
5. Peak Performance Phase

I have attached two examples of how I do things. I am posting so that you can get a general idea. I learned, and adapted this format from two coaches that I highly respect-Dick Hannula and Jon Urbanchek. If you will look at Figure 1 this is the page in my graph paper book where I list important dates and the number of days to the key meets in the season. At the bottom of page one I list the Phases for the 2019-2020 College Season. For this season I had two time periods where we rested for a key meet. The first Peak Performance period was for the University of Missouri Invitation and the second Peak Performance Period was for our Conference Championships.

On page two of Figure 1 I begin the day to day plan and the training categories that I use. This is the part of the planning process where it is important to be well thought out and planned. When you write a basic outline for what you are going to be working on you must be aware of important dates. These may include the dates of meets, when the holidays and breaks are going to be. This part of the plan must also be flexible enough to allow for individual adaptation for the student-athletes. For example if a student-athlete has met a goal time before the "big meet" then the plan may need to reflect an change it what you are going to do for that athlete. The same is also true in reverse. For instance if a student-athlete gets injured, or sick and misses significant practice time the plan must reflect changes that you will make to address the long term health of the student-athlete. The plan should then reflect you changing the training categories to aid in bringing the student-athlete back to full health.

Figure 1 Sample Seasonal Plan Outline

Figure 2 is the monthly handout I give to the student-athletes so that they know what we are going to be working on. On these "blank' monthly calendars I list the training categories, primary sets and any test sets that the athletes will do. I think this is important for the student-athlete to see and know where they are headed and what they are gong to be doing so that they can set daily practice goals. I also like the student-athletes to be able to see what phase we are in and the dates of those phases so they can set, and adjust their goals as needed. There is also a chance, and I mention this because I have experienced this, that once you hand out this monthly calendar a student-athlete might find in convenient to miss on a given day because they do not want to do what is scheduled. People and people and will take short cuts, but this is where you must educate them on why they did to do what you have planned. You can do it. If you have educated your student-athletes on the need for these sets, the majority of the swimmers are going to look forward to the chance to to something that will help them achieve their goals.

Figure 2 Monthly Seasonal Plan September 16-November 9, 2020

Conclusion

I will finish this blog post on planning by summarizing the primary things that our plan should be:

1. Set up your plan based on where you want the club and swimmers to be-at the end of the year, or at the end of 2-3-4 years.

2. The plan should reflect your training and coaching philosophy.

3. The plan should be designed for your student-athletes and where they are in their development. 

4. The Plan must be written to help the student-athlete achieve their goals and make progress form year 1-2-3-4 etc....

5. The Plan must be well thought out, organized, adaptable and flexible to the club and student-athletes changing and growing needs.

6. The Plan should be evaluated and updated as needed based on the individual student-athletes needs

One final thought on planning. I never use the same plan twice because student-athletes change and grow, times change and each year is an entirely new season. Good luck and good planning.

The Art and Importance of Planning Part 2-the "Nuts and Bolt"

“You can't plow a field simply by turning it over in your mind.”

Gordon B. Hinckley

Introduction

I love the introductory quote above because in this post I want to share the "nuts and bots" of planning. In part one of this post I tried to lay the ground work for understanding why seasonal, and even quadrennial planning is important. I this post I hope to provide you with some things that I have found helpful to me in my planning. Please remember that this is one man's experience. I believe, and recommend highly, that it is a good idea to search and seek out several opinions about planning from a variety of coaches. Then pick and choose those practices that you find helpful and that fit your particular circumstances.

Prologue

In my second job as a young coach I recognized the need to know, and have in place a daily practice plan. I really did not understand in my beginning years how to plan out  full season. I knew how to plan out a weekly plan, but to think in terms of a month, or two or three that was just not in my understanding or practice. My first exposure to seasonal planning was during my fourth year as a coach of a newer US Swimming Club in Orem, Utah. I was visiting with a prominent local coach who had a lot of experience and he shared with me his plan. I did what a lot of coaches do and that is I borrowed his plan and made it mine. I simply took our his information and inserted mine. This worked okay, but was not as effective as it should have been because the achievement level of swimmers of the coach I consulted with was not the same as those I was coaching.

As I gained more experience I had the chance to attend my first ASCA World Swim Clinic in Las Vegas, Nevada and I was able to talk to a lot of coaches and gain get some answers and directions about planning. This is where I first heard about quadrennial planning. At this ASCA World Swim Clinic, I also took the Level 3 Coach's School. During this school I realized the need to have a well thought out, systematic and designed plan for teaching and conditioning swimmers. This plan needed to include such things as particular goals for where I felt the team needed to at various time periods within the competitive calendar. I realized the need to establish a proper meet schedule so that I could gauge the effectiveness of my teaching and conditioning plan, as well as provide my swimmers with the opportunities to see their progress towards their goals (this will be the subject of another blog because it is a vital part in planning). So after this ASCA World Swim Clinic I returned home and began to plan in earnest.

What I began to do is use our yearly week long trip to my in-law's home to set my goals and to plan. This trip typically was taken after the summer long course season. This worked very well, but I felt I was still missing something. The way I planned all changed when I was hired to be a teacher, and the Head Swimming Coach for Woodrow Wilson High School in Tacoma, Washington, as well as an Assistant Coach to work with Dick Hannula at Tacoma Swim Club. Coach Hannula helped me make a huge change in my planning practices. What I quickly learned from Coach Hannula is that you have to plan long term. You have to look at the swimmers from their start to their finish. What he would do is to look at a swimmer who was in the 9th grade and make a four year plan for them. I also learned that this plan was a progressive, logical and well designed plan to address the growth and maturity of the swimmer over time.

My first experience in seasonal planning came when I was flying home from my first Junior Nationals with Coach Hannula and Tacoma Swim Club. Coach Hannula had arranged for us to sit next to each other on the flight home. It was about a three hour flight and I recall, no long after the flight was in the air, Coach Hannula took out of his carry on an engineering graph paper spiral notebook. Prior to the meet he had already printed off the meet schedule for the coming short course season, and he handed this to me so we could use it at an appointed time. We quickly went through the names of all the returning swimmers and the new ones who had achieved the criteria to be on the National team. He then guided me through the things that he felt we needed to emphasize for next year to make progress. New seasonal goals were set and written down in the book. We then went through a day to to day plan of teaching and conditioning plan for the swimmers. As part of this planning we also wrote down the meets that would be used as benchmarks for us to gauge the effectiveness of our teaching and conditioning. By the time we landed the new season plan was made and we were on the same page as to where we were headed.

The "Nuts and Bolts"of Planning-where the rubber hits the road.

To refresh your memory, and I mind. Here are some of my best practice ideas about planning that I mentioned in Part 1:

1. Determine where I want the TEAM, and each swimmers to be at the end of a season.
2. Determine what skills that my staff and I will need to emphasize and teach to help the swimmers get to where I what them to be at the end of the year. Included in skills are such things as techniques, and the "Processes" you want them to learn-understand-apply.
3. Determine what are the physical conditioning categories that are to be used to help prepare the swimmers to perform the skills and processes needed to achieve the ending results wanted. This includes in water training categories-Aerobic Endurance, Threshold, Speed work etc. It should also address what types of dryland exercises are to be done to enrich the swimmer's ability to progress toward the end results. It can also include things like mental strength training, and team building activities to provide support to every member of the team as THEY progress together toward the end results.
4. Determine the meets to attend that will be used as assessments, or "stepping stones" in their progress toward the end of the year meet. Each meet should be selected with a specific purpose in mind. For example, select a meet at which the swimmers should be able to perform a given number of underwater kicks off each wall to eventually get beyond flags by the final championship meet at the end of the year. Each meet can have a designated focus that will allow you and your staff to gauge the effectiveness of your training and teaching.
5. Determine the phases of the season, their length and the focus of each; Aerobic base, anaerobic, threshold, speed, technique etc...
6. Put it on paper. Prior to putting the plan to paper I like to put the outline of the plan on a large white board complete with dates and as much detail as possible. I think this allows the staff to see where we are headed, and how we are going to get there.

Once all of this is compete, and the plan is written. You should communicate the plan to the swimmers. It is very important as you start each year to teach the swimmers and inform them of where they are going, how they are going to get there, and what things they are going to be doing to get to their end result. I recommend you print off a blank monthly calendar and fill in the blanks with what you are planning to do each day during a four week period of time. It is very important that you evaluate and re-evaluate your plan as the days progress through the plan. Remember the plan must be flexible and adapt to changing circumstances. You should be prepared for any scenario as things circumstances can change. The pool may be down, athletes get sick and/or injured. Sometimes your swimmers will achieve goals sooner than expected and you will need a flexible plan that can address and adapt to a change in goals for the athlete. 

Epilogue

Planning is so critical to the success of the coach, athlete and the team. Writing a great plan takes time and experience. I recommend that you put your plan in some type of notebook, or even use a lap top. I am old school and prefer to write it down on paper. For me I have found it helpful to both write and see the plan before finalizing it. I believe it is also important to save your plans and refer back to them. I have over 30 years of saved plans. I do look back at them periodically to see if I am missing anything, or to look at what worked in a particular year. Sometimes you will find "hidden gems" that might be helpful in writing a new plan, as well as things that you might want to use but really did not work. Do not rush your writing your plan. Take your time and thoughtfully consider your plan. Above all else remember you are planning for the success of the athlete and team, not you. Success to you.

"Planning is bringing the future into the present so that you can do something about it now." Alan Lakein