Athlete Characteristics
The following program is designed for a male athlete competing in the 50 and 100 meter
freestyle races at the collegiate level. In a study done by Tanaka et al. (1993), male swimmers
who participate in both dry land and pool training were 19.17 +/- 0.32 years old at 181.17 +/-
1.47 centimeters tall and weighed 77.05 +/- 1.93 kilograms. The athletes had a lean body mass of
68.02 +/- 1.46 kilograms and body fat percentage of 11.60 +/- 0.93. A major inhibitor to
swimmers is the drag of the water, and the best opportunity to combat the turbulence and
deceleration is during the start and turns. Starts can account for up to 30 percent of a 50 meter
race. Swimmers need explosive lower body strength. The generation of force takes at least 0.79
seconds to react to the horn and explode off the start blocks. The amount of force swimmers can
generate off the blocks affects air distance before entering the water and what speed they begin
there stroke with. Bishop et al (2013) discovered strength training caused a mean reduction of
0.59 seconds and an increase in distance covered before the head enters the water. Similar to the
start, at turns, swimmers rely on their lower body strength to generate force to push off the wall
but are simultaneously combating the opposing force of the water. During the stroke phase, total
body strength is utilized to accelerate and maintain top speed. Swimmers often experience
shoulder and hip injuries at one point in their careers. Utilizing strength training to focus on
power generation, unilateral work, and injury prevention, this program will improve the
performance for the prescribed athlete.
Initial Assessment
The athlete for the following program is a 20 year old male at 6 feet tall. He weighs 175
pounds with a lean body mass of 149 pounds and a body fat percentage of 11 percent. The
athlete has over 14 years of experience swimming and no prior injuries. He prefers to utilize the
split stance for his starts.
Swimming involves overhead pulls, squat jumps, countermovement jumps, and flutter
kicking. To determine upper body strength, the athlete will perform a 1 rep max pull up and 1 rep
max bench press. West et al (2011) utilized the 1 rep max squat to determine the athlete’s lower
body strength and found it was “significantly correlated with time to 15 meters, peak vertical
force, and peak horizontal force.” Similar to Bishop et al’s (2013) study, the athlete will engage
in pre-training tests of start block reaction time and dive distance. If the pool is unavailable, a
track starting block may be substituted to gather reaction time. Because the athlete chooses to use
the staggered stance to begin his races, the track starting block is a suitable substitute. After an
eight-week training program, Bishop documented noticeable changes in the participants strength
output.
For periodization, Gonzalez-Rave et al (2021) states the traditional method garners the
best results. He recommends dividing the program into one to two macrocycle. Within the
macrocycle, there are four to six mesocycles. Each mesocycle is further divided into three to four
microcycles. Collegiate swimming potentially contains two peak times, conference
championships and nationals. The swimmer needs to perform their personal best at the
conference championships in order to vie for a spot at nationals. The program will be built
around preparing the athlete for the conference championships.
Week One
Week one will focus on maintaining lower body strength and improving lower body
power. To prevent muscle imbalances, unilateral work is included after the main compound lifts.
This ensures joint stability and efficient stroke patterns (Bishop et al, 2013). The traditional
periodization model is implemented in this program. The primary focus is to improve lower body
power while maintaining and increasing full body strength. Each week will consist of three to
four resistance training days and four days of pool training.
Monday Morning—Pool Practice with Coach
Monday—Upper Body (High Intensity) Sets Reps Weight Rest
Warm-Up Upper Body Warm-Up (Found Below)
Weighted Pull Up 5 4 60lbs (80% 1RM) 3 minutes
Bench Press 5 4 150lbs (80% 1RM) 3 minutes
Barbell Overhead Press 5 4 95lbs 3 minutes
Pendlay Row 5 4 135lbs 3 minutes
Face Pulls 3 10 25lbs 1 minute
Cool Down Upper Body Cool-Down (Found Below)
Tuesday Morning—Pool Practice with Coach
Tuesday—Lower Body (High Intensity) Sets Reps Weight Rest
Warm-Up Lower Body Warm-Up (Found Below)
Barbell Squat 5 4 230 (80% 1RM) 3 minutes
Bulgarian Split Squat 5 4 45lbs each hand 3 minutes
Single Leg DB Deadlifts 3 10 45lbs 1 minute
Single Leg Extension 3 10 60lbs 1 minute
Leg Curl 3 10 90lbs 1 minute
Cool Down Lower Body Cool-Down (Found Below)
Wednesday Morning—Active Recovery Duration
Walk 20:00 minutes
Full Body Mobility Routine 20:00 minutes
Foam Rolling 20:00 minutes
Thursday Morning—Pool Practice with Coach
Thursday—Plyometric Circuit Sets Time Weight Rest
Warm-Up Lower Body Warm-Up (Found Below)
Jumping Lunges 3 60 sec 30 sec
Burpees 3 60 sec 30 sec
Reverse Lunge to
Knee-up Jump
3 60 sec 30 sec
Jump Rope 3 60 sec 30 sec
Cool Down Lower Body Cool-Down (Found Below)
Friday Morning—Pool Practice with Coach
Friday—Lower Body (Low Intensity) Sets Reps Weight Rest
Warm-Up Lower Body Warm-Up (Found Below)
Barbell Squat 5 2 230 (80% 1RM) 3 minutes
Bulgarian Split Squat 5 2 45lbs each hand 3 minutes
Single Leg DB Deadlifts 3 12 45lbs 1 minute
Single Leg Extension 3 12 60lbs 1 minute
Leg Curl 3 12 90lbs 1 minute
Cool Down Lower Body Cool-Down (Found Below)
Saturday—Rest Day
Sunday—Rest Day
Warm-up and Cool Down Protocols
Upper Body Warm-Up
1 minute each exercise
Arm Circles Hanging Scapular Retractions
Resistance Bands Pull Apart Cat Cows
Shoulder Rolls Child’s Pose into Cobra
Lower Body Warm-Up
1 minute each exercise
Forward Leg Swings Clam Shells
Lateral Leg Swings Glute Bridges
Standing Lunge Stretch Spiderman Stretch
Upper Body Cool Down
1 minute each exercise
Doorway Chest Stretch Cross-body Shoulder Stretch
Overhead Triceps Stretch Child’s Pose
Lower Body Cool Down
1 minute each exercise
Pigeon Pose Bench Quad Stretch
Hip Flexor Stretch Seated Single Leg Hamstring Stretch
Child’s Pose
References
Bishop, C., Cree, J., Read, P., Chavda, S., Edwards, M., & Turner, A. (2013). Strength and
conditioning for Sprint Swimming. Strength & Conditioning Journal, 35(6), 1–6.
https://doi.org/10.1519/ssc.0000000000000019
González-Ravé, J. M., Hermosilla, F., González-Mohíno, F., Casado, A., & Pyne, D. B. (2021).
Training Intensity Distribution, training volume, and Periodization models in elite
swimmers: A systematic review. International Journal of Sports Physiology and
Performance, 16(7), 913–926. https://doi.org/10.1123/ijspp.2020-0906
TANAKA, H., COSTILL, D. L., THOMAS, R., FINK, W. J., & WIDRICK, J. J. (1993). Dry-
land resistance training for competitive swimming. Medicine & Science in Sports
& Exercise, 25(8), 952–959. https://doi.org/10.1249/00005768-199308000-00011
West, D. J., Owen, N. J., Cunningham, D. J., Cook, C. J., & Kilduff, L. P. (2011). Strength and
power predictors of swimming starts in international sprint swimmers. Journal of
Strength and Conditioning Research, 25(4), 950–955.
https://doi.org/10.1519/jsc.0b013e3181c8656f
Wirth, K., Keiner, M., Fuhrmann, S., Nimmerichter, A., & Haff, G. G. (2022, April 28). Strength
training in swimming. International journal of environmental research and public health.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9100337/
Wolf, B. R., Ebinger, A. E., Lawler, M. P., & Britton, C. L. (2009). Injury patterns in division I
collegiate swimming. The American Journal of Sports Medicine, 37(10), 2037–2042.
https://doi.org/10.1177/0363546509339364
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