Introduction
There are still in the 21st Century many coaches who refuse to accept much of the science which has been published regarding swimming and no topic more so than practice sessions for 50m sprint swimming, research which I might add is well proven and is over 50 years old.
These coaches still believe that you can prescribe endurance training – developing the swimmer’s aerobic base, as well as expecting those swimmers to develop their speed for 50m events by initiating a sprint sets a few times a week.
Out-dated Thinking:
Many 50m sprinters have been wrongly involved in programs which have declined their ability to perform in the 50m events and are often including amongst those training for greater distances.
Coaches have excused this by providing these sprint swimmers with a break between training and competition, however, this action will only return their speed to an innate level – that is, if they receive a long enough taper – rather than any improved sprinting ability.
The most common mistake in developing 50m sprinters, is coaches using sprint sets constructed of repeated 50m distances, with the idea that their swimmers will be forced to work through high-levels of fatigue to some how seek physiological improvements in the swimmer. Further to this, common practice has been to finish off a practice session with these ‘sprints’.
Both of these are physiologically wrong because the body is unable to tax the capacities required for increasing speed when under these stressed and fatigued states.
Neural Function in Sprinting:
Although, the above paragraph describes the detrimental effects on the 50m sprinters body physiology, there is a more important element to consider – neural function. Speed improvements over 50m are primarily neural rather than physiological.
So,what implications does this have on how we train 50m High Velocity sprinters?
Well firstly, coaches training 50m swimmers must ensure they create a separate program in which neuromuscular patterning, i.e. skill takes great precedence.
It is well documented that if skills are to be performed when an swimmer is tired, then learning those skills whilst fatigued is the best procedure.
However, this practice in fact inhibits the formation of neuromuscular patterns due to the increase of the gathering +Hydrogen ions within the supporting physiological environment, thus making it very difficult, or indeed near impossible to learn the required skills.
Despite the evidence, many coaches still accuse those with this view of committing blasphemy!
Let me say that once more...
"Skill acquisition should not be performed under the same physical stress as experienced in a race, however, it should be undertaken at desired race speeds."
An efficient sprint performance depends largely on the number of times the actual skill is performed at the goal pace.
The current way of developing sprinters, by the majority, is neither allowing for increases in speed nor allowing for any great skill attainment.
This turns us to the question of, how do we accommodate for both quality of technique whilst providing physical and neural adaptation
High Velocity Practice:
A solution to this comes in the form of training at distances shorter than the conventional 50m sprint distance, therefore, less distance = improved training speeds and neural patterning and with a reduced work-to-rest ratio – known as High Velocity Practice.
HVP consists of a controlled number of repeats, allowing for a small but focused volume of race pace and faster than race pace practice that has been designed to develop the swimmers neural sprint pathways and their explosive Phosphogen system, without the swimmer creating a large excess of performance hindering +Hydrogen ions.
Having mentioned your Phosphogen system it is worth noting that the charts and graphs we use in swimming are not fit for purpose. These charts and graphs have been "borrowed" and then adapted for swimming, from research carried out on runners and rowers. No actual research on swimming has been actually carried out by any swim physiologists. See graph below.
Why is this important ?
Unlike land-based running and above water rowing, swimmers are actually cooled by the water and are partially or fully supported by the water, depending upon size and body weight. This then has a positive knock-on-effect to the swimmer making the long over used energy distribution charts and graphs null and void.
The given time to exhaustion for your Phosphogen system on land, is given as around 10 seconds but in water it could go as high as 20 seconds before exhaustion and your glycogen system really takes over.
One of the most important outcomes from this HVP is the ability to build race-specific neuromuscular patterns under non-fatigued conditions.
HVP practice should be used as the main type of training for 50m sprint swimmers, performed as early in the session as possible after the warm up and after low intensity technical development
Big Changes:
The current set up in the majority of clubs for training sprint swimmers is, in my opinion, fundamentally wrong; and for that matter, some clubs do not accommodate at all for sprint swimming.
Clubs should, where possible, provide a separate programme for all those swimmers who wish to focus on 50m events just as they do for middle/ long distance swimmers and as they do for different age groups.Change is required in the negative hype surrounding sprint training,
All ages should be allowed to enjoy swimming in which ever form they choose and clubs should look to accommodate that wherever possible.
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