Medley training is not easy, but it is certainly something you should learn to do if you want to become a more complete swimmer. Training for all four strokes increases your aerobic capacity and gives you a better feel for the water.
There are various benefits to be gained from medley training:
1. Training variety. We have already seen that variety is the key to successful training.
2. Varied stimuli. A variety of different stimuli means more and different motivation and greater attention to detail.
3. The possibility of taking part in different races from usual. This can have huge benefits when it comes to your own races.
The strategies to be followed are very simple:
– Work on your weaker strokes at least once or twice a week
– Change strokes frequently during individual training sessions
– Train all the different strokes in the right order
- 20×50 m medley (5x butterfly/5x backstroke/5x butterfly/5x freestyle)
– Train your legs. Swim the butterfly and breaststroke with your arms stretched along your sides and the backstroke and freestyle partly on one side
– Work on changing stroke while turning during sets for your legs
- Swim “complete” strokes when entering and exiting turns
- pay very careful attention to turns
