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#2941
TheRamblingLane
Participant

So, I have 3 swimmers I’ve used this program with for over a year. It works remarkably well as you obviously know. ๐Ÿ˜‰
Swimmer girl 17yo has achieved best times at every meet she has swum. Swimmer boy 14yo has achieved best times at every meet he has swum.
Swimmer girl 12yo has achieved best times at every meet she has swum.
I have done this program somewhat purely with the 12 yo. She loves it so much better than the “traditional” approach. The other two have high school swimming added into the mix but the high school implements usrpt vs traditional sets probably 70/30.
All three are top 16 swimmers in the state and one is an event champion.
17 yo does circuit type dryland a couple times per week and abs almost everyday. 14 yo did weight lifting in high school swimming for the first time and probably heftier than what I would have them do.
I have a question for Doc…the head club coaches are under the impression that their swimmers need more rest (most of the swimmers are girls and about 25% are 11-12 and the rest are 13 and over). Since we started, I have ALWAYS done for My three swimmers a 75%, 50%, 25%, 25% unload, then meet weekend. Only for big championship meets. We do 3 usrpt sets and decrease the rep amount by these percentages. All extra time is devoted to technique, starts, turns, breakouts, and underwaters.
This has worked well. We adjust if we need to according to how many meets are within a certain timeframe. So far so good.
The problem is that all other swimmers are not performing like mine which makes the coaches believe they need more rest. But they began resting the others 10 days out from the meet dropping down to two sets per day at a cap on reps (like do no more than 20, 15, 10, etc) when they were using usrpt purely with no doubles or minimal weights (which had been abandoned 3 weeks before anyway). I kept mine on our typical 3-5 day unload. My swimmers did very well. The other swimmers did well on their 200s (but I suspect they would have done better had they not rested so long). Their 100s were not as stellar although they did have minor .5-1.0 sec drops in some and right on best times for others. But they weren’t what coaches “predicted”. One of my girls dropped 2.7 sec in her 100 from a swim 2 weeks before and the coach thought she would gone faster. I was thrilled with the swim. I wonder if they have unrealistic expectations or misunderstand what they should expect.
So, I guess my question is this: do you notice some swimmers (especially sponge-Y muscled swimmers) needing the normal 3-5 day rest yet others with heftier muscle needing more rest or is it pretty similar across the board bc of the nature of the training??
I have my strong opinions about this but there has been no honest scientific discussion about it between coaches.
Also, I feel very strongly that the young swimmers most certainly should NOT be resting long at all! And the coaches want them to cut back 2 weeks out from the meet. I vehemently disagree. These are tiny girls with the exception of one stronger more mature 12 yo.
I would love anyone’s thoughts and opinions on this.
Thank you!!