Drag Swim
We did this workout at the pool this morning and, as usual, I feel compelled to spread the word as I thought it was really effective. I am falling asleep as I write this if that’s any indication.
This workout as I describe it has lots of equipment used, but some of it optional.
What you’ll need…
- Pull Buoy: Standard piece of swim gear.
- Elastic Band: Basically, you need something to keep your feet held together while you swim. Used with a pull bouy, this keeps you from using your legs at all (ie. cheating)… until you try it, you have no idea how hard this makes it to swim. Mine is a slice of an old mountain bike tube.
- Paddles: Another standard piece of swim gear – I use these.
- Long Sleeve T-Shirt: The weight and drag make swimming much more difficult.
- Snorkel (Optional): This is optional, but if you are a fan of using a snorkel and want a way to incorporate it into your workout, here is a chance to use it. I use this.
- Kick board
- Flippers
The workout…
Set #1 – Warmup (300m)
25m freestyle with pull buoy
25m kick with pull buoy (instead of a kickboard)
Repeat for a total of 300m
Set #2 – Drag Kick (500m)
500m kick with kick board while wearing the long sleeve t-shirt. The extra drag adds some difficulty to the kick set.
Set #3 – Dragging the Anchor (1,000m)
500m freestyle wearing the elastic band, pull buoy, long sleeve t-shirt, and snorkel (optional). This starts out feeling easy, but between the elastic band tied around your feet and the long sleeve t-shirt weighing you down, your legs quickly become an anchor dragging behind you. The key is to hold form as best you can and maintain good speed.
500m – same as the above, but add paddles. The additional power you can get with the paddles will help your speed which in turn will help your form, but the additional resistance will also make it that much harder.
Set #4 – Flipper Sprints (500m)
10 x 50m sprints while wearing flippers and still wearing the long sleeved t-shirt. Rest 5 seconds between each 50m.
Set #5 – Sprints (250m)
10 x 25m sprints with no equipment. Rest 5 seconds between each 25m.
Set #6 – Cool Down (200m)
