7 Tips for Swimming Sprint Coaches
As a swim coach, you surely understand that different swimmers respond better to varying coaching strategies. Some swimmers need to be encouraged throughout the entire practice in order to perform at their highest potential. Others are more self-motivated, and can improve themselves best without external pressure. Personality aside, you should also make distinctions in your coaching style based on the events that a swimmer competes in. And, while your entire team should be unified with custom woven towels, sprinters have much different needs than distance swimmers. In this blog post, we’ll detail the strategies that you should take when training sprinters.
1. Always Start With a Speed Exercise
As veteran swim coaches know, sprinting exercises are incredibly taxing. So, you should structure your swim practices with this in mind. Never end with a sprint exercise that challenges swimmers to give their all.
Instead, start the practice with a sprint exercise. With this strategy, swimmers can reach their true maximum speed, rather than be restricted by a state of fatigue. After a rigorous speed exercise, drying off with a comfortable custom woven towel can be very comforting.
2. Rest Between Sprints
In theory, it makes sense for sprinters to cool down with a light, slow swim through the pool. In practice, though, this approach does not work.
To truly regroup and restore the energy needed for another sprint, swimmers must have inactive rest. This means they must remain completely idle, and take the chance to dry off with custom woven towels.
3. Limit Distances
Distance swimmers gain the most beneficial workout from pushing their boundaries each time. The same principle applies to distance runners. But, it’s important to make the distinction between workout tactics.
So, it’s important to refrain from sprinting over 200m in one practice. Engaging in too much sprinting may limit the top speed, and restrict the potential to improve. Rather than overexertion, instruct your team to take a break with their custom woven towels.
4. Always Contribute 100% Effort
The goal of sprinting should not be to maintain a certain top speed. Rather, it should always be to improve.
That’s why consistently contributing maximum effort can truly break these boundaries. Anything short of this will not allow sprinters to hone their skills. Sprinting with less than 100% effort will not improve speed, and may actually decrease it.
5. Never Train on the Same Day as a Race
In order to reap the benefits of a training session, there needs to be enough time for the sprinter to recover. So, sprinting twice within the same 24 hour period could negate the effects of training.
For best results, allow 24 hours for full recovery between sprinting sessions. In the meantime, use a custom woven towel to dry off.
6. Keep Individual Sprints to 15 Seconds
In order to limit the amount of effort expended during each individual sprint, limit them to 15 seconds each. With this strategy, you can help your sprinters to consistently develop their technique and increase speed. Instead of compromising these efforts, encourage sprinters to take a break with their custom woven towels.
7. Distinguish Between Aerobic Exercise and Sprinting
When your team consists of both sprinters and distance swimmers, it’s easy for this line to become blurred. But, it’s important to make this distinction to help people flourish.
While aerobic exercise is necessary for sprinters, it’s important to limit their speed during these sessions. If they swim at sprinting speed during aerobic sessions– or even close to it — then they risk undoing their progress.
Team Towels Can Help
For swim teams looking to develop a sense of unity, custom woven towels are a must. We can help your swim team to engage with others in a kind and constructive manner by sharing a common bond in and out of the pool. Contact us for more information about the 7 easy steps to ordering custom swim team towels.
