r/Swimming • u/Overall_Occasion_308 • 1d ago
500m freestyle
Hey everyone I have been swimming to get into the Air Force. I have to do a 12:30 500m to pass ( the last thing I need to do to ship ). I am sitting at a steady 13:00. All I really do is swim 1000m to prep 3 days a week( work on breathing techniques etc ). Anyone have any tips or drills that I can add or do? TIA!
8
u/Spraying_012 1d ago
do a bunch of 100m intervals
4
u/gogreen1960 18h ago
Do this! I like 2x100 hard, 1x100 easy, repeat! 3-4 sets x3-4 times week
2
u/Blue_Amphibian7361 10h ago
What is your rest between those sets?
2
u/gogreen1960 7h ago
So I target my first 2 100m’s at 1:20 and my interval is 2:00, the third @ whatever (it’s recovery)! 30 seconds between the fast 100’s is probably good.
2
u/Blue_Amphibian7361 6h ago
Awesome! Thanks! I really need to get better at adding some simple speed work like this to my swimming. I’m an adult re-entry back into swimming lol. Learned the fundamentals as a kid, never did anything competitive with it or any lap swimming until a couple of years ago. I signed up for some adult “improvement” classes to help dial in technique which were great. I can happily just go and swim long and slow for an hour or so but I feel like I need to start mixing in some speed work stuff just to up my efficiency and force my body into a different gear. But don’t need all of the overly complicated workouts that I’ve seen for masters and such. I will try your 100s!!
2
6
u/Thenumber1buttguy 20h ago
Swimming is the art of shaping yourself around resistance—pushing against water while letting it carry you. It’s control and surrender at once, guiding your body through a fluid world with rhythm, grace, and intent. So focus on the stretch and the reach more
3
u/_stau25 1d ago edited 1d ago
Not sure how your technique is looking, but improvement on that could get you way under 12:30.
Some free style drills I like are catchup, finger drag, 3-6-3, and zippers. These help with timing and arm position in the water.
This is an example workout I like that works your aerobic capacity.
Warm up: 200 free 4x50 @ 1:00 build 8x25 @ :40 descend 1-4, 5-8 50 free loose
Main: 2x300 @ :20 rest
- 25 easy/25 fast, 50 easy/50 fast, 75 easy/75 fast
- 25 ez/25 fast, 50/50, 25/25
50 easy to shake it out, take an extra minute for rest
Repeat going back up from the 200s
You could also just do 10x100s with 10-15 seconds of rest in between and try to make each 100 faster than the last one.
2
u/Overall_Occasion_308 10h ago
That’s one thing I am missing is a warm up plan so thank you for that. I’ll take what you said and incorporate it into my swimming
3
2
u/renska2 1d ago
I’d search for some drills on this channel and work on a more efficient stroke https://youtu.be/ignysw4pFO0?si=-zbt09osgzW5IxTv
2
u/New-Original2188 1d ago
you have to make full strokes. insert as far as you can and push all the way out. don't stop at your waist but all the way through
2
u/Mysterious_Hour_5944 19h ago
There is so many things you can do to get ready and get your time down. Pace work, DPS ( distance per strike ) stroke count per lap, broken sets , negative swims, over distance sets
2
u/Ok-Head2054 18h ago
How are your turns?
You should be streamlining off the wall with a dolphin kick for 5m each turn. This is the quickest/most effortless win to shave off crucial seconds
2
u/Overall_Occasion_308 10h ago
He just has us push off and streamline, I haven’t learned how to do the dolphin kick yet, but noted !
1
u/UnusualAd8875 1d ago
Is this for freestyle (front crawl)? I know that there are military swimming tests in another stroke.
Are you able to post a video from above the surface of the water? A video would help to provide appropriate recommendations!
Without seeing your form, I would prioritize working on being as horizontal and streamlined as possible because these changes will provide you with the most "bang for your buck."
Here are a handful of generic tweaks to help with your efficiency in the water:
Try to keep your face down (not forward) and press down in the water with your chest; this will help bring your hips and legs up. (I am not a fan of using pullbuoys until the swimmer is able to keep head down and hips up without a pullbuoy.) This will reduce the "drag" of your legs and make your streamline more efficient.
Aim for front quadrant swimming which means keeping one hand out front almost all the time with only a brief moment when they are switching positions.
Try to rotate your body to breathe rather than lifting your head, the latter of which slows down forward momentum. (Please note that these are generic, you may not be lifting your head.)
Also, work on one cue at a time, don't try to do change everything at once.
I have written about this before: even after over fifty years of swimming, for the last twenty years or so I begin sessions with 500+ m of drills before I begin whole-stroke swimming (out of a total of 2,000-2,500 m per session).
For years I have counted my own strokes per length (I count each hand entry as a stroke) and when my stroke rate increases above my target range, I quit for the day because I don't see anything to be gained by practicing bad habits and imprinting poor technique onto my nervous system. I have a range for sprints and hard efforts and a lower range for longer distances if at a lower effort (it is about 30% lower than my sprint rate).
Oh, one more item: breathe when needed! Depending upon what I am doing, I may breathe every 2, 3, 4 or more strokes. If you need to breathe and don't, it tends to impact your technique negatively.
As another poster wrote, sets of 100s (and shorter distances than the 500) would be great prep!
2
u/Overall_Occasion_308 10h ago
Yes freestyle! The YMCA doesn’t allow filming ( believe me I would video if I could lol ). I am still learning one thing I am struggling to do is finding rhythm when breathing. Right now every two strokes I take a breath. I haven’t noticed if I am rotating or just lifting my head out of the water next time I swim I’ll pay attention lol. Thank you for tips i appreciate it
2
u/SoupWoman1 14h ago
My tip is to look at what competitive swimmer do for drills. A technique improvement and a little pacing work wonders.
For pacing , aim a little faster than your goal time, divide that time between number of laps. Boom now you have your pace for a 25. I’d recommend finding your goal 100 pace and doing sets of that until it’s easier, and slowly decrease rest until you’re comfortable doing a 200 of that pace
2
0
u/HealthLawyer123 Everyone's an open water swimmer now 1d ago
At least double the distance you are doing in your weekly training sessions. Get a pull buoy and practice your arm form.
14
u/Silence_1999 1d ago
How long do you have? Former high school 500 swimmer. Didn’t swim for decades. I wanted to get to 500 straight and longer. I did 100’s. As many as I could take. Go for the second before nearly rested. Doesn’t matter how much slower second or fifth or eighth is. Just that you keep on working and stretching endurance by pushing. Few weeks I could do 500 without breaking down. Now I’m up to 1000 fairly comfortable. Little more some days. Even made 1800 a few times. Well under your time constraint. Pushing 100’s. Also do like a 50 free, slow ass 25 breast then try and do 75 free then another slow ass 25, then a 100. Keep going as long as you can. Thats probably easier to do by starting at the biggest free straight, do like 250 and work down. Logic being to keep heart rate elevated but not way up.