The Swim Brief – On Test Sets

Chris DeSantis Coaching

For this episode of the Swim Brief Podcast, we got North Baltimore Aquatic Club Senior and 2008 US Olympic Coach Paul Yetter to weigh in on “Test Sets”. Why do we use them? What are they for? And what are they exactly?

Paul Yetter goes deep, including an explanation of how Jon Urbanchek’s color charts helped him to become a better coach in 2006 and ways you need to scale what you measure to different types of swimmers.

I really don’t do too much in the way of test sets. I guess we do repeat sets so we could call them test sets?! It’s a very small portion of our training. We do 10×300 on 330 SCY or something of that sort but I really am less consistent than I should be to call it a test set. I use it for Jon Urbancheck’s color chart placement.


This episode’s challenge

Put your stopwatches away for a full practice.

Do you have an opinion on this week’s topic? We would love to gather some “data” on it! Take our pool, leave a comment below or send us a message with your feedback for this episode.


This episode’s poll

Podcast Details Related Resources
Episode: #3
Host: Chris DeSantis
Guest: Nico Messer
Special Guest: Paul Yetter
The Science of Winning
(Dr. Jan Olbrecht)
Color Chart Excel Sheet
(The Swimming Wizard)
Making Test Sets Meaningful
(Coach Michael Murray of Victor Swim Club)

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About Chris DeSantis Coaching

There is a lot more to excellence than how you move in the pool. Your mindset determines how much you get out of a practice or a competition. Serious swimmers also know that technical skills make all the difference. Coach Chris can get you personalized workouts that deliver incredibly efficient results. You can get improvement with less time in the water and a better life out of it, keep the sport fun for kids, or take high level performance even higher.


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