Guidelines for power training

Training for power places greater demands on the body that training for muscular endurance, and it is important not to overstress the body when focusing on power development. Keep in mind that in this case, quality is more important than quantity. When your swimmers are ready to build up power, you, as a coach, should take several safety and performance considerations into account as you set up your programme. From the safety perspective, you should be aware of these issues:

• Perform explosive exercises at the start of a workout (just after the warm up) while your athletes are still fresh. Fatigued muscles can negatively affect technique and cause injury. Fatigue also limits the gains you can expect to achieve.
• Set up your training programme using exercise progressions so that exercise increase in complexity and intensity as your swimmers become more experienced with this type of exercises.
• Power exercises are meant primarily for physical mature athletes. Younger swimmers can easily handle low level plyometric exercises, such as jumping rope, but swimmers should avoid moderate and high intensity exercises until they have gone through puberty.

Concerning performance, you should be aware of these issues when building power:

• Each rep should be an all out effort. Convince your athletes to perform the exercises at 100% intensity, working to get the most out of each rep and each set.
• All exercises should be performed as rapidly as possible to train the neuromuscular system to produce force quickly and efficiently.
• To maximize gains, power training should consist of 3 to 5 sets, each containing 3 to 10 reps. The load should between 30 and 60% of the maximum load swimmers can lift. The emphasis should be on the execution speed and not on the load.
• Power exercises should be used sparingly early in the season, and take up a larger part of your programme as you approach the competitive season.
• Allow adequate time for recovery between power sessions; use them two times per week.
• The exercises should be as specific as possible. Use swimming specific exercises, and others that involve some degree of rotation.
• Your training programme should have variety. There are many exercises you can use to improve power. This will keep your swimmers from getting bored by doing the same routine every time

Some coaches believe that is better to have strength and conditioning sessions as separate sessions and not before or after a pool training session. They also suggest that a 30 to 45 min pool session after a power training session will enhance neuromuscular adaptations even more. But this is something you’ll have to decide on your own while taking in account the time that’s available for training and your squad’s level.

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