Meet Review -- Part 2 / Warmups

our little squirrel friend from Plantation:)

Coaches of all levels and years of experience can easily figure out that there are many ways warmup for fast swimming at meets.

I'd prefer not to get into a discussion that takes a viewpoint of one style being better than another style.  

What I'd like to impress upon everyone is this: to get consistent feedback with your warmup (how well it helps you get ready for peak performance), you have to keep the warmup the same for 6 or 7 meets in a row, or possibly longer.   Two-time US Olympian Katie Hoff, to my knowledge, did the same exact warmup (we probably tweaked about 5% of it over time) from age 14 to age 19.

Yes, I'm aware it's boring, but the fast swimming that follows a good warmup it isn't boring!

The only reason to mix up a warmup is to find a good one to eventually stick with.  Athletes shouldn't mix up the warmup at every meet because once you have that peak performance, you want to remember what you did to get there (from what you ate that day and the day before, to what song you listened to in the morning,  to what your warmup was).  And then you want to do it again, and maybe over time tweak it a little bit.  Get to the point where the warmup is the same every time…and you will have enough good swims with it throughout the year that you can do the warmup with confidence every time.  

This is the warmup I've asked the National group to do, with times I'd like to see the warmup done:

Land Warmup starting at 7:50am:
6x: {15M walk} kick, hug, pull
3x: {30 Jump ropes plus 3 push-ups}

Optional Land Warmup:
Feet on wall 5 Minutes-10 Minutes

Water warmup at 8:10am, Two "options" -- see below for a recommendation:

Option A: 800 Swim, 400 Kick, 600 Drills, 6x100 Swim (Free on 130 or
140 or rest 20), 4x50 Drill/Swim or 6x50 descend by 2s.  Madi, Aaron,
Jacob, Bean, Emma, Cole, Shawn, Karen, Rip, Keiran, Jack, Paolo.

Option B: 400 Swim, 400 Kick, 200 Drill, 200 Swim, 6x100 Swim (Free on
130 or 140 or rest 20), 6x50 Drill/Swim (1) or rest 20 or 6x50 (50) or
rest 10, descend by 2s.
Alex, Abby, Kaitlyn, Wyatt, Matt, Davis, Kayla.

immediately after each race:
400 {50 Free plus 50 Stroke Drill}.  This is the minimum distance, do
more if needed.

Before a race after non-activity for 60 minutes or more:
100-300 Swim
6x50 Free (Rest 15) descend by 2s
6x25 (Rest 20) odds drill, evens swim.

In the PM, it's ok to cut warmup by 400 total on Option A or 200 total
on Option B.

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One of the key parts of a good warmup is the timing of when it's done.  We were a bit late this weekend, getting in and getting the warmup done on time.  Before the relay in the AM we really didn't have time to do much but grab the towel and get behind the blocks.  I asked for 3:15 in the PM and I saw too many 3:25s.

Think about it -- at HS State Champs, would you roll behind the blocks with 3 minutes to spare, shake a leg out and then go race?  No way, you are ready to rock before the the last 10 minutes, fully clothed with shoes on, and you are totally dry.  Act like that before any race, and make it your thing!  Why not? 

You've got to do the warmup I've sent to you (and posted above), and do it every time you race.  I'll tell you when you can take some of it away (like the set of 6x100 that were extra for the Option A people this weekend).

I've caught people slipping on this principle too often.

Coaches don't want to ask for better and more timely warmups over and again at meets because we want to be focused on performance and not on policing the warmup.   We want to talk with you about splits, and we want to help you with your race strategy.  We don't want to be overbearing.  I do think we are improving and I've seen some of our athletes sticking with strategies we've discussed (like adding some IM turn work in an unfamiliar pool).

The fact that I've spent too much time on this with our athletes over the last few years has affected how we all behave at meets; we have to develop a sense of Team between athletes and coaching staff where all the small stuff (warming up, warming down, doing the land work with focus and intent) is taken care of easily and fluidly so the coach and the athlete can hone in on what really becomes the goal: swimming fast, winning heats, and having fun at the competition (becoming an even more loose & relaxed Team).   {More on proper warmup details in an upcoming post….}