How to return to swimming after a break – Training plan #1

We have already seen that dry-land training can be useful when resuming swimming after a break, particularly when the pool is not available (Dryland training to get active again – Training 1).

However, if you do not particularly enjoy workouts on dry land, we can begin training sessions in the water straight away or, better still, do a combination of both.

Today we will look at how to slowly and gradually begin training in the water.

Are you ready to return to swimming?

Your first training sessions in the water must be aerobic ONLY, with no speed work to avoid over-stressing your body, particularly if this comes after the dry-land training we recommended.

We will include technical drills in the warmup. These drills are vital because they can be an extremely effective training method, if performed properly.

Here is your first training session:

WARM UP

• 300 m easy, any stroke
• 12×25 m drills  (10 seconds rest)

MAIN SET

• 10×100 m aerobic freestyle keeping your heartrate below 140 bpm (15 seconds rest)

OR

• 20×50 m aerobic freestyle (10 seconds rest)

OR

• 100/200/300/400 m with increasing rests of 10-30 seconds

COOL DOWN

• 200 m easy

So how was your first training session in the pool after the break?

We suggest swimming at least twice or three times the first week (with at least one day’s rest between sessions), using different strokes to perform the various drills and varying the main workout by changing the distances you swim, as suggested.