Types of tapers

Taper is the period of training prior a major swim meeting during the season. Taper starts immediately after the most intense training has ended, and the swimmers continue with reduced training that will supposedly allow them to recover and superadapt. Up to this day there are three categories of tapers that competitive swimmers use.

The first one is the major taper, a procedure used to prepare swimmers for the most important meets when they want to be at perfect condition and perform at maximum level. It is commonly 2 to 4 weeks in length and it is the longest of the three types. The usual practice is to plan one major taper per year but experts suggests that swimmers could plan up to two to three major tapes for a single taper year. Planning more major tapers than that would only decrease the time for quality training and not have any positive effects on performance.

The second category is the minor taper, which is usually one week in length and is used when a good performance is desired in the middle of a particular season. Coaches have conflicted opinions about this type of taper. Some believe that minor taper interferes with training and prevent swimmers from reaching peak performances at the end of the season. Other coaches believe that a small break from intense training in the middle of the season help swimmers swim fast in the middle of the season, which is good both physiologically and psychologically. Swimming fast during this part of the season gives swimmers confidence and motivation.

The third category is the retaper. This type of taper is used when two important meets are held within a period of 3 to 5 weeks. The ability to retaper is very important for competitive swimmers as they have to race at major meetings which are only a few weeks apart. Scientists have found that subsequent peaks in performance can be achieved if there is time available for training between each peak. However, this is only applicable to swimmers who train on a yearly basis as a solid training background is needed to maintain peak levels of performance over a period of several weeks.

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