T2 Aquatics – Age Group Workout

This morning (Sunday 6/16/13) I had the opportunity to coach the 12 and unders. I had about fifteen 11-12s and ten 10 and Unders. We went SCY. My main goal was to work some fly drills with them. We generally go 75 minutes on Sunday mornings. A short but sweet practice!

Workout AM

10 Minute Warm-up – 100 Swim + 100 Kick

2x: 4×25 Fly Kick (40) – Fly Kick – Head Lead {:40 rest between sets}
3x: 4×25 “Cycle Drill*” Fly (40) {:40 rest between sets}
1x: 4×25 Fly Swim @ Cycle Count
1x: 4×25 Free Swim @ Stroke Count

* See the comments below for a description of the fly “Cycle” drill.

Freestyle:
3×300 (430) or 3×250 (430) – start at 85%, drop 2-3 seconds each time
3×150 (215) or 3×100 (215) – start at 90%, descend to Fast

100 easy

WORKOUT TOTAL: 3000

This workout was provided by T2 Aquatics Head Coach Paul Yetter.

Additional Comments:
The Butterfly “Cycle” drill is simple in concept, but difficult to do consistently for many age groupers. The drill helps an athlete learn the proper rhythm of fly — plus it trains them to finish each length on a full fly stroke and start each length with a certain amount of kicks off the wall.

The “Cycle” drill:
1. Count Kicks off wall
2. Count R arm strokes to 3
3. Count L arm strokes to 3
4. Count Full arm strokes to finish

Many of our athletes were going 9-10 kicks, plus 3R 3L 4Full. A few athletes did 3Full, and some did 5-6Full. Once a ‘good amount’ is established, the athletes must maintain the same “cycle count” every time they do the 25. The underwater kicks and the amount of strokes must remain the same! This teaches the athlete discipline with kick-outs and finishes — as well as it forces them to swim strong single arm strokes (which tend to be sloppy when they are not counting their strokes). We repeated this drill 12x to really get the hang of it.