Test sets for evaluating the aerobic and anaerobic muscular endurance of swimmers

The reason that coaches and athletes want to test the aerobic and anaerobic muscular endurance is to get an estimate of the changes that are taking place above the anaerobic threshold, principally changes in buffering capacity. This type of set provides information about the slope of the lactate-velocity curve and whether it is flattening above the anaerobic threshold. This test may be the best measure of how well an athlete is maintaining the balance between aerobic and anaerobic training.

Test set for evaluating changes in anaerobic power

The purpose of test sets for anaerobic power is to evaluate changes in an athlete’s rate of anaerobic metabolism. A small number of very short repeats should be used so that acidosis and its slowing effects on anaerobic metabolism will not cause interpretation errors.

The best repeat distances are 25 and 50 m. The whole set should be between 100 and 300 m in length. The rest intervals should be long to allow for the elimination of much of the lactate that is produced during each swim. It’s better if you use send off times of 2 to 3 min between 25s and 2 to 5 min between 50s. Athletes should be encouraged to swim easy during the recovery periods between repeats to assist in clearing their muscles of lactic acid. Some examples of repeat sets for monitoring changes in anaerobic power are 8 x 25 m on a send off time of 3 min and 6 x 50 m on a send off of 4 min.

Standardized repeat sets

A standardized repeat set is perhaps the simplest method of evaluating progress in aerobic capacity and prescribing training paces for swimmers. In order to complete a standardized repeat set swimmers need to swim a long set of repeats on short rest. The average speed for a set of repeats that requires between 30 and 40 minutes to complete should correspond closely to the results of a T-3000 swim (see here) and, therefore, to the individual anaerobic threshold speeds of athletes. The best repeat distances for sets like these are between 200 and 400 m because the estimated threshold pace will apply to the usual range of practice repeat distances. Once the repeat distance, number of repeats, and send off time for a standardized repeat set have been established, that set could be repeated periodically to test for changes in aerobic capacity. An athlete’s aerobic capacity has probably improved when s/he can swim the set at an average faster speed, and that speed is likely to be close to the swimmer’s individual anaerobic threshold pace.

Critical swimming speed test

Critical swimming speed (CSS) tests were developed by Wakayoshi and his associates to estimate the threshold pace for endurance training. The defined the critical swimming speed as the fastest speed swimmers could maintain continuously without exhaustion. Therefore, they believe that it represents an athlete’s maximal lactate steady state.

The procedure of determining the critical swimming speed involves swimming a minimum of two time trials from a push off, although three or more trials are recommended. Any combination of the following time trial distances have been recommended for this purpose: 50, 100, 200, and 400m. When only two time trials are used, the distances should be considerably different. There should be at least a 30 minute rest between swims. It is also recommended that the swims should be performed over a 2 or 3 days period, especially when the 3 or 4 time trials are used.

The T-3000 test

The T-3000 test is a great non invasive method to evaluate the progress your athletes are making. It can be done in two ways. In the first method, athletes can swim for 30 minutes and record the distance covered. In the second, athletes can swim a 3000 m time trial. Whichever method is used, the effort should be maximum and evenly paced from start to finish. The results are then converted to an average speed per 100 m by dividing the distance swum in 100s into the time for the entire swim in seconds.

How to monitor training

The effective administration of a swim training programme requires accurate monitoring of changes in both the aerobic and anaerobic performances of athletes to determine whether they are improving, and if not, why not. In addition, it is important to monitor training speeds accurately (that’s not really necessary if you coach development or age group squads) so that they will produce the desired effects. Blood testing is the most precise method for monitoring training available to coaches and athletes. This procedure, however, is not without pitfalls. Furthermore, most coaches do not have the equipment, funds, time, or expertise to use blood testing for these purposes. For this reason, other noninvasive procedures are needed for monitoring training. Alternative methods involve standardized repeat sets, monitoring heart rates, and rating of perceived exertion (RPE).