TheRamblingLane

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  • in reply to: so simple it's… #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. 😉
    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!!

    in reply to: Location and USRPT Status #2902
    TheRamblingLane
    Participant

    Hi! From Northern Wisconsin here. Exposed to usrpt in Indiana and actually had a bit of a heart attack when my daughter came home telling me they did 30 X 25s at practice. Honestly, I sneered my nose and actually said something like “I did NOT just pay a fortune for my children to swim 30x25s at practice!” They swam For a full winter season this way and interestingly enough, with crazy winter roads and facility closings, they probably only avg 3-4 practices a week. I was panicking for my then 15 year old daughter bc she had already begun plateauing and I certainly didn’t expect this program and sporadic days at practice to have a good outcome! Yet, at her state meet where she didn’t even “taper” she swam faster than she had over several seasons and years on a traditional training platform. My other two children also swam exceptionally well and furthermore, they were all happy and definitely not bored! Rather they were energized and interested again! We then took leap of faith with training it exclusively with those three (ages 12-17 now).
    We are 50 minutes from the nearest club team and so we only go twice a week and they train by themselves at a local YMCA on the other days. My kids were becoming disillusioned with the traditional format of “work yourself to death and maybe or maybe not hit your taper at one or two meets a year”. My 12 year old girl and 14 year old boy have little interest in that. My 17 year old girl was tired of watching all her Wisconsin swim friends from other teams drop so much time year after year while she dropped time in much smaller increments. Whereas she has the tenacity to see anything through to completion, I worried about burnout and frustration.
    So Last spring and summer, upon careful consideration, she trained usrpt mostly with a spattering of some longer t-pace work. I work a lot at that time, so we spelled out her micro and macro cycles at the start and she went to it all by herself. By the end of the summer she had gone from a 2:49LCM 200 breast to a 2:40.04 and got her junior national cut and first place at state. She also went a 1:13.97LCM in her 100 breast (previous time of 1:19LCM) and got that cut also. She’s swimming those two events plus bonus cut events in 50 free and 200 IM this week at junior nationals and she couldn’t be more excited. Her success caused 3 other high school coaches to implement usrpt in their programs. Our local club also turned their program upside down to try something new based on her results only. The kids love it at the club level and it has breathed new life into the program. The kids who were never standouts are getting attention they deserve and improving by leaps and bounds. Eager to see how the end of the season will turn out. Eager to share ideas and results. Nothing like experience to keep moving forward.

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