CHAPTER 7 Level 1: Basic Skills Workouts

Level 1 workouts consist primarily of posture, balance, and swimming-skill drills with a small amount of full-stroke swimming. The workouts in this chapter will take approximately 20 to 30 minutes to complete. You will use each of the level 1 drills in the other levels. If you have trouble with a specific drill, spend extra time on it to get it right. Often the real problem is that you haven’t mastered an earlier drill. Regardless of your ability, even the simplest drills in this book will enhance your neuromuscular knowledge. Until you are familiar with each drill, you might want to photocopy the drill descriptions and put them in watertight sandwich bags so that you can have them for quick reference at poolside while you practice.

You may do the workouts in this chapter with full-size or short-blade training fins. If you make good forward progress when kicking without fins, you can also do these workouts with bare feet. Assuming that you start with full-size fins, you will want to switch to short-blade fins and eventually to bare feet as you become more comfortable with various drills and exercises.

You will want to spend as much of your swimming time as possible emphasizing the fundamentals you have been learning. Use the focus points throughout the swim to keep your mind engaged. A photocopy of the focus-point list (page 220) in a plastic bag can come in handy.

After you have completed all of the practices in this chapter once, repeat the T-20 swim from chapter 3. The goal is to swim farther in the allotted 20-minute period than you did originally. Do the T-20 without fins so that you’ll be comparing apples to apples. If you were unable to complete the initial T-20 swim without stopping, then you may improve significantly simply by taking shorter rests. After you complete the T-20, record your results with your original results, and be sure to recalculate your training-zone heart rates if your SLTHR has increased.

You should plan on going through the level 1 practices at least twice before moving to the next level. After your first pass through level 1, reread the descriptions of each drill and focus point that appear in the practices. Chances are you’ll absorb new concepts and nuances that you may not have noticed when you first read them. After completing your second pass through level 1, repeat the T-20 and record the results before going on to level 2.