Andy Kershaw

I don't have a favorite set, but I like to combine traditional sets with creative ones that simulate race conditions. Examples include 750s at pace, 550s fast, 350s faster than pace, bottom blast-offs, 75s focusing on kick counts and stroke counts, and 50s with aggressive wall kick and a fast finish.
 
Transcript: "Alright, so I don't know that I have a favorite, but I do like some traditional things, you know, just some 50s. Maybe you go a set of 750s at a pace. Maybe you're just a little slower than 200 pace, but really focused on kick counts, stroke counts, etc. Then take maybe 100 easy, go 550s, really hitting the pace. Go another 100 easy, go 350s, going a little faster than pace. And then go a bigger easy, maybe 200 easy, 300 easy, go a round or two of that, or a couple rounds of that. But then I also love doing some creative stuff. When I'm looking at pace sets, a lot of times I'm really trying to replicate what their body's going through in a race, even if they're not doing the traditional thing. So maybe you could go like some bottom, what we call bottom blast-offs, jumping off the bottom with them, holding the med ball overhead, and then hitting some fast 25s, trying to get kind of that simulation of what they're going through at the beginning of the race. Then maybe after four of those, go a couple 75s where really trying to be at pace, really trying to focus in on, again, on the kick counts, the stroke counts. Maybe do a couple of those 75s, and then finish with a few 50s where maybe you're starting with wall kick, a pretty aggressive wall kick, and then on the whistle, you're turning and hitting a 50 pace, or not a 50 pace really, but a 50, working on finishing the race. I love doing some things like that just to engage them in different ways, but still getting the physical response, physiological response that they're going to go through in a race."

We have a goal education meeting every year to discuss the goals of the program set by the athletic director, coaches, and those recruited. Then we talk about individual goals and allow the team to establish their own team goals. The coaches then tweak the team goals as needed before sending them off on their mission.
 
Transcript: "So first thing here I think is just to acknowledge that every swimmer has individual goals and that's a good thing and that's okay and I think as long as the team realizes that that's an okay thing and actually to encourage it, to share it, and to share each other's individual goals and be supportive of that, I mean that's to me that's step one. The thing that we do with our team goals, we have a goal education meeting every year where we talk about the importance of the fact that the athletic director has goals for our program, we all have a responsibility to connect to those. As the coaching staff has goals for the program, everybody has a responsibility to connect with those and everyone who was recruited to the program, we talked about that in the recruiting process and they all took on that responsibility and it's important to reinforce that from time to time and talk about what those are. But it's also a two-way street that as coaches and athletic department, athletic directors, we also have a responsibility to connect with their goals and put them in position to accomplish their goals. From there we send the team off without the coaches to establish okay what are the team goals and they talk through it based on the education that we gave them. Then they come back, present the goals and we tweak them if needed but typically we are set and away we go."

Work on reducing drag while swimming fast and find Gennady Turetsky's seven golden rules of fast swimming to help you go faster without burning out at the end.
 
Transcript: "Keep practicing and have fun with it. But no, I'd say a big part of it is making sure that you're not only working the speed, but also working the reduction of drag piece of it. Making sure you're swimming fast, not too hard. If you can find it, it's hard to find, but Gennady Turetsky has the seven golden rules of fast swimming. And one of those is the faster you want to go, the more relaxed you have to be. And I think that's a big part of being able to go fast without burning out at the end. So dig on the internet. See if you can find those seven golden rules. They're great, but I think that one probably applies the most here."

Swimmers from the mid 90s to present who demonstrate versatility, Olympic success and beyond include Michael Phelps, Ryan Lochte, Caeleb Dressel, Katie Ledecky, Katie Hoff and Natalie Coughlin.
 
Transcript: "All right, so I'm gonna answer this with swimmers that in recent history, so let's say swimmers from like the mid 90s and beyond, because those are swimmers that that I have the most memory of watching or was able to watch firsthand. And you know I think one of the things that's important here is thinking are we talking versatility, are we talking Olympic success, are we talking you know other success, things like that. You know I think when you're looking at versatility, Olympic success and beyond, I think I'd have to go Lochte, you know when he was at his best. If Phelps wasn't there he would have had a lot of medals, a lot of versatility, he had great college career, a lot of great success. I mean he was he was one of the best. You know if you're looking at one of the most dominant, I think when Dressel's at his best, he's dominant. On the women's side obviously Ledecky and she's got versatility that I think gets a little hidden sometimes. I think Katie Hoff, who I had the pleasure to coach for short stint, versatility and she was great. Natalie Coughlin, great swimmer, probably one of the best, definitely one of the best."

I would recommend mastering basic dives, such as kneeling and standing dives from the edge of the pool, to help your son transition to doing dives off of the blocks. Focus on driving the toes into the starting surface and keeping them pointed at it as he goes through the water.
 
Transcript: "I would probably recommend getting really simple with it and really mastering the simpleness of it before moving on. So maybe you're taking it off of the blocks back down to the edge of the pool trying to find a pool where you know you're you're right almost at water level and maybe even going back to like kneeling dives but certainly standing on the edge type dives really focusing on driving the the toes the feet into the the starting surface so the deck the block on keeping those toes pointed at that surface as you're going through the water but you know if your son can can really master starting better from a lower surface a more simple dive then that's probably gonna be a great way to transfer that to the blocks"

As often as your coach tells you to. Your coach will factor in how many competitions you have and the type of lactate work best suited for your needs.
 
Transcript: "As often as your coach tells you to. Your coach knows the best in this regard. You should do different types of lactate work at different times of the season. Factor in how many competitions you have. Are those multiple day competitions, single day competitions, things like that. So there's a lot of factors that come into play. I will say for us, we look at lots of different types of lactate work. Are we working the lactate production, going short, fast, but giving the body a chance to clear it. So that we can work on the body's ability to produce energy quickly. Are we working on lactate tolerance. Our ability to just dig in and do some longer efforts. Create a lot of lactate, making sure that we explain to our swimmers that that's the goal. That we want them to get in there, go fast, right from the gun, create a lot of lactate. And then work on the body's ability to tolerate that and process that. Are we working on a lactate threshold type of thing. And improving the clearance part of the lactate system. So we do lactate work multiple times every week, but there's different types of what we do."