Strength and Conditioning Swim Session

Session Overview

A 45-minute pool session built around resistance tools rather than pure distance, aimed at building the swim-specific strength that’s easy to neglect once open water sessions stop for the year. It’s a good fit for the off-season, when the goal shifts from race-pace endurance to building a stronger, more efficient pull for next season.

What You’ll Need

• Swim paddles
• Pull buoy
• Swim resistance band or parachute (optional)
• Kickboard

Warm-Up (10 minutes)

400m easy freestyle, building effort every 100m. Follow with 4 x 50m drill (choice of catch-up or fingertip drag) on 15 seconds rest, focusing on a clean, controlled catch rather than pace.

Main Set

Three resistance-focused blocks with full recovery between each, prioritising strong technique under load over swimming fast.

• Block 1 — Paddles only: 6 x 75m at strong, controlled effort, 20 seconds rest. Focus on a full, deliberate catch through each stroke rather than rushing the tempo.
• Block 2 — Pull buoy + band (or pull buoy alone if no band): 6 x 50m at high effort, 30 seconds rest. This isolates upper-body pull strength with legs out of the equation.
• Block 3 — Kick set: 8 x 25m strong kick with board, 15 seconds rest, to balance the upper-body focus of the first two blocks with leg strength and conditioning.

Cool-Down (10 minutes)

300m easy swim, mixing strokes freely, followed by 4 x 50m long and slow freestyle focusing purely on stretching out your stroke length after the resistance work.

Coaching Notes

• Paddles increase load on the shoulder — build up gradually if you’re new to them, and stop the set if you feel any shoulder discomfort rather than pushing through it.
• Prioritise technique over speed throughout; the point of this session is strength under control, not a fast swim.
• Scale down: drop to 4 reps per block and skip the band if you’re newer to resistance swim training.
• Scale up: add a second band-resisted block, or extend Block 1 to 8 x 75m for more advanced swimmers.
• RPE guidance: Blocks 1 and 2 should feel like a 7-8/10 effort; the kick set in Block 3 can push closer to 8-9/10.