One-Hour Workout: Back to Basics

Novice and intermediate swimmers working on technique and efficiency: This one-hour swim workout is your jam. Advanced swimmers can use this set as an easy session to reinforce all the little details required for fast swimming.

You’ll start with a warmup in your swim fins, which allow you to focus on your body position while kicking. Then, in the main set, you’ll practice bilateral breathing, which is vital for triathletes in open water – read the whys and hows here. You’ll progress to no-walls drills, which mimic open water where there are – you guessed it – no walls for pushing off every 25 meters. After that, you’ll tackle single-arm drills, and you’ll want to pay attention to any weaknesses in your stroke. Finally, you’ll do some fast/smooth sets, which elevate your heart rate and let you practice recovering while swimming, before moving into a short cooldown.

This workout can be challenging and time-consuming, especially if you’re not used to certain elements (like bilateral breathing) or have weaknesses in your stroke. As such, we’ve designed this set to be flexible and adaptable to your particular fitness level and the time you have available to do the workout. In a set like this, the focus should be on quality, not quantity. Take your time to do the drills correctly, rather than focusing on total yards covered in the hour.

Looking for more drill sets to hone your technique? Check out How to Choose the Best Swim Drills For You.

One-Hour Workout: Back to basics

Warm-up:

2-6 x [100 swim/50 kick warm-up; fins, no board]

Main set:

4-10 x [50 with 10 seconds rest (breathe every 3/5 by 25)]

300-600 no walls, 2x sighting every 25

4-8 x [75 with 15 seconds rest (25 right-arm only, 25 left-arm only, 25 swim]

2-5 x [200 pull with 20 seconds rest (50 FAST/150 smooth)]

Cool-down

100-200 non-free (backstroke or breaststroke)

Total: 1,600-3,800

RELATED: A Complete Guide to Triathlon Swimming

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