One of the great things about Masters swimming is that we’re all in the water for different reasons. Some of us are preparing for competitions, some are training for the Busselton Jetty Swim, and others want to maintain their fitness, stay healthy, and enjoy the company of fellow swimmers.
Whatever your motivation, we all have something in common. We want to get the most out of our time in the water.
And here’s something worth remembering: being the best swimmer you can be doesn’t mean being the fastest swimmer in your lane.
It means making the most of your abilities, developing your fitness, improving your technique and continuing to challenge yourself, whatever your age or experience.
Fitness Is More Than Swimming Laps
Swimming is an excellent way to maintain cardiovascular fitness, muscular endurance, flexibility and general wellbeing. It’s also an activity we can continue enjoying well into our later years.
But swimming laps and training with purpose are two very different things.
A structured training session challenges the body in different ways. Some sets build aerobic endurance, others develop speed and strength, while recovery swims help us prepare for the next effort.
Each has a purpose.
If we swim every lap at the same comfortable pace, our improvement can eventually plateau. In fact, as our bodies become more efficient at performing the same activity, that familiar pace places less demand on our cardiovascular and muscular systems.
Over time, without sufficient training stimulus, we may actually begin to lose some of the fitness and strength we’ve worked hard to develop.
Our bodies are remarkably adaptable. They learn to perform familiar activities using less energy, which is wonderful for swimming efficiency. Still, it also means we need to introduce new challenges if we want to continue improving.
That’s why our coached sessions include a variety of distances, speeds, drills and recovery periods.
The aim isn’t simply to swim more laps. It’s to challenge your body appropriately so that it has a reason to become stronger and fitter.
Understanding Your Training Effort
You may have noticed that during our sessions we regularly work at different effort levels — perhaps 75%, 80%, 85%, 90% or maximum effort.
There’s a good reason for this.
Learning to control your effort is an important swimming skill.
At a moderate intensity, you should feel comfortable maintaining your technique and breathing rhythm. As the intensity increases, your breathing becomes more demanding and maintaining an efficient stroke requires greater concentration.
At higher intensities, we challenge our ability to sustain speed without letting our technique fall apart.
One of the biggest mistakes swimmers make is treating every effort as a race.
If a set calls for 80%, then swim at approximately 80%. Save your maximum effort for when it’s required.
These percentages are guides to perceived effort, not exact measurements of speed.
Learning to swim at different intensities helps develop pacing, endurance and better control in the water.
And that’s valuable whether you’re racing 50 metres or preparing for a 3.6 kilometre ocean swim.
Train Hard to Swim Easier
Another important aspect of training is learning to engage as much of your body as possible.
Take your kick, for example.
You may not need a continuous six-beat kick when swimming the Busselton Jetty Swim. Over a long distance, a more economical kick may be the sensible choice.
But training is where we develop the capacity to do more.
Using your legs effectively, engaging the larger muscle groups and committing to those challenging 90% and maximum-effort sets places greater demands on your cardiovascular and muscular systems.
And that’s precisely the point.
By creating greater cardiovascular demand during training, we encourage the heart, lungs and muscles to adapt to more challenging workloads.
Those demanding efforts aren’t simply about swimming fast for a short distance. They’re about building the physical capacity to sustain a stronger pace for longer.
When you return to longer, more comfortable swims, you may discover that you can maintain a faster pace with greater control and less relative effort.
Challenge your body during training so that your longer swims become stronger, more efficient and more sustainable.
Of course, high-intensity efforts need to be balanced with appropriate recovery and adapted to each swimmer’s abilities, health and fitness.
Technique First – Speed Will Follow
We can all try to swim harder, but swimming harder doesn’t automatically mean swimming faster.
Water creates resistance, and our job is to move through it as efficiently as possible.
Good body alignment, controlled rotation, an effective catch and a strong, well-timed stroke all contribute to better swimming.
Think about what happens when you lift your head too high, shorten your stroke or begin fighting the water. You use more energy without necessarily travelling any faster.
Now consider what happens when you maintain a streamlined position, keep your movements controlled and apply your effort effectively.
You may find yourself moving through the water with less effort while maintaining, or even improving, your pace.
That’s swimming efficiency.
And when improved technique is combined with greater cardiovascular fitness and muscular strength, the benefits can be considerable.
What Happens When You Get Tired?
This is where things become interesting.
Most swimmers can concentrate on good technique during an easy warm-up. The real challenge comes when fatigue sets in.
Your breathing may become rushed, your head may start moving unnecessarily, or your stroke may lose its rhythm.
It’s tempting to respond by simply moving your arms faster.
But faster arms don’t always produce faster swimming!
Instead, concentrate on maintaining the fundamentals. Keep your body aligned, maintain an effective catch and avoid unnecessary movements.
Sometimes the most productive thing you can do during a hard set is focus on one technical element and execute it well.
Good technique under fatigue is one of the foundations of becoming a stronger swimmer.
Consistency Beats the Occasional Heroic Effort
One of the most valuable things you can bring to your swimming is consistency.
Fitness develops over time through regular, purposeful training.
You don’t need to produce a personal best every session, and you certainly don’t need to finish every workout exhausted.
But consistency alone isn’t the whole story.
If we always swim at the same comfortable intensity, our bodies become accustomed to that workload. To continue building fitness, we need to challenge ourselves appropriately.
That’s why those harder sets matter.
The 90% efforts, the maximum-effort swims, and the sessions that push us beyond our usual comfortable pace all help build our capacity.
The key is finding the right balance between challenge, technique and recovery.
Think of improvement as a series of small steps.
Perhaps you can now hold your pace over several 100-metre swims. Maybe your breathing is more controlled, your recovery between efforts is quicker, or you maintain better technique toward the end of a demanding set.
These are all signs of progress.
And they’re worth recognising.
Are You Actually Getting Better?
Many Masters swimmers ask themselves this question.
Sometimes improvement is obvious. Your times become faster, you swim further, or you achieve a personal best.
But progress isn’t always reflected in the stopwatch.
Consider these questions:
- Can you maintain a consistent pace throughout a set?
- Are you recovering more comfortably between efforts?
- Can you hold your technique when swimming at higher intensities?
- Are you feeling stronger and more confident in the water?
- Can you complete a session that would have challenged you several months ago?
- Can you maintain a faster pace without feeling that you’re working significantly harder?
If you answered yes to some of these questions, you’re making progress.
It’s also important to compare like with like. A swim completed with fins, for example, isn’t directly comparable with one completed without them. Likewise, fatigue, rest intervals and the purpose of the session all influence performance.
The stopwatch is a useful training tool, but it doesn’t tell the whole story.
Measure your progress against your own abilities and goals, not simply against the swimmer in the next lane.
Recovery Is Part of Training
As Masters swimmers, we need to recognise that recovery is just as important as the work we do in the pool.
Our bodies respond to training during recovery, adapting to the demands we’ve placed on them.
Adequate sleep, good nutrition, hydration and allowing time between demanding sessions all contribute to maintaining our fitness and wellbeing.
This becomes particularly important when we’re incorporating higher-intensity training.
Those challenging efforts are valuable, but more isn’t always better.
The body needs time to recover, repair and adapt. Without adequate recovery, performance can decline and the risk of injury or excessive fatigue increases.
Some days you’ll feel terrific; others, your body may feel reluctant to cooperate.
That’s normal.
Learning when to push yourself and when to ease back is an important part of training intelligently.
Remember, our goal is not simply to swim well today. It’s to stay fit, healthy and able to enjoy our swimming for years to come.
Make Every Session Count
Here’s a simple challenge.
The next time you arrive at training, choose one thing you’d like to improve.
It might be maintaining a streamlined position off the wall, keeping your head still, improving your rotation or holding a consistent pace.
Perhaps it’s committing more fully to the prescribed effort levels, rather than settling into a comfortable rhythm.
Concentrate on that one element throughout the session.
Don’t try to correct everything at once.
Small technical improvements, practised consistently, can make a considerable difference over time.
And when the session calls for a harder effort, give it your best appropriate effort while maintaining good technique.
Remember, those challenging sets have a purpose. They help you build the capacity to become a fitter, stronger, and more efficient swimmer.
And don’t hesitate to ask your coaches for feedback. That’s why we’re on pool deck!
The Bigger Picture – Swimming for Life
One thing I particularly enjoy about Masters swimming is seeing people of different ages and abilities train together.
Some swimmers are competitive, some are returning after years away from the pool, and others have discovered swimming later in life.
Everyone has their own starting point and their own goals.
And that’s exactly how it should be.
With the Busselton Jetty Swim approaching and the Masters National Championships in Perth next April, exciting opportunities await those who want to challenge themselves.
But you don’t need to enter a competition to be a successful Masters swimmer.
If you’re becoming fitter, improving your skills, enjoying your swimmioverall well-being,keepyou need itg and maintaining an active lifestyle, you’re already achieving something worthwhile.
And if you’re willing to occasionally step beyond your comfort zone, challenge your cardiovascular system, engage your muscles, and embrace those demanding training sets, you may surprise yourself with how much you can achieve.
So keep turning up. Keep challenging yourself. Keep learning.
Focus on technique, train with purpose, respect your recovery and enjoy the friendships along the way.
Because ultimately, the goal is simple.
Be the best version of yourself in the water — and keep enjoying swimming for life.
See you on the pool deck!
Andrew Sexton
Advanced ASCTA-Accredited Swimming Coach
Busselton Masters Swimming Club