3 swim sets to try out before you decide to hang your swimsuit up!

Training is like a dish served in a Michelin-starred restaurant: it must contain ingredients that make it appetising and enjoyable for even the finest palates.

To make a training session really tasty, it must include three basic ingredients:

1. It must be challenging. It must put you to the test physically, mentally, technically and tactically.

2. It must involve a progression. It must become more difficult as you go on, in terms of speed, breathing rate, rests and number of reps.

3. It must make you swim faster in a race. Training must really make a difference to your performances.

Here are 3 swim sets to try out before you hang your swimsuit up!

1. 50/100/50

This swim set is a real killer and teaches you how to swim fast with only short rests. It should be performed as follows:

• 50 m swum in your own stroke starting out of the pool on 1:00 minute at 100 metres pace.
• 100 m swum in your own stroke starting in the pool on 2:00 minutes at 200 metres pace.
• 50 m swum in your own stroke starting out of the pool on 1:00 minute at 100 metres pace.

Repeat this set 3 times. Then add an extra 50/100/50 each week until you can complete 5-8 sets in one single session.

2. The magic of medley

• 4 x 25 medley (i.e. 25 butterfly, 25 backstroke, 25 breaststroke, 25 freestyle) on 30 seconds
• 100 medley changing stroke every 25 m on 2:00 minutes
• 4 x 50 medley, one for each stroke on 1:00 minute
• 200 medley changing stroke every 50 m on 4:00 minutes
• 4 x 100 medley, one for each stroke on 2:00 minutes
• 400 medley changing stroke at 100 m on 8:00 minutes

This set is really tough and only recommended for experienced swimmers.

3. The horrible 100s

Even the name of this set is rather frightening and it really is a nightmare for lots of swimmers. It is a very simply “designed” set but, if performed properly and at maximum effort, it is extremely hard to complete.

It consists of 6 x 100 m swum in your own stroke on 6:00 minutes … all performed at top speed and just 3/5 seconds slower than your personal best.

You can perform these swim sets in any order you like. Order may be important but execution is much more so.

Even the very best training set will not help you achieve your goals if performed badly. So try and swim your very best at maximum effort.

More swim sets on arenaswim.com