Swimming Blogs - Varun Shivakumar

Every coach values their ability to coach a group of athletes in manners that suit the needs of individuals while benefiting the whole group. Coaches use a large arsenal of workouts to help develop swimmers into strong-willed and durable competitiors, and these workouts must be intricate and sophisticated to meet the guidelines of the training necessary to breed aspiring swimmers. Hell, if swimming fast could be accomplished simply by blowing up rafts in the pool (with all due respect to everyone's good friend, Mr. Gary Hall Jr.), where would coaches find themselves in the mix of things?

But I am not here to elaborate on the various skills that coaches possess that help them communicate with swimmers. Instead, I wish to signify the importance of perhaps the most painful yet effective asset that a coach can utilize to develop strong swimmers: the failure set. Not too long ago in practice, I served witness and instrument to such a set, and this is where my curiousity for the effects of such a grueling workout spiked. Why would a coach implement such impossible aspects into a common summer day at the pool? Where can a coach draw the line between the perfect test of persistence and pure insanity?

Now it does not matter what exactly the content of the set is: whether there are 4000 meters or just a few lengths of the pool involved, the focus of the set will complete the needs of the swimmer when performed correctly. The mutual trust between the coach and swimmer allow a wide variety of failure sets to be created without compromising the integrity of the set. Once this understanding can be attained, a coach can generate a thoughtful failure set that challenges a swimmer, while still helping maintain a strong bond between grasshopper and mentor.

So if the content can be so broad and unbounded, then how does a failure set function? What effect can the set perform on an athlete that helps them develop into a more mature swimmer than before the practice commenced? There are no straight answers, because the full effect of the set is indeterminable without the full willingness of the swimmer. Swimming is a mental sport, and only the apprehensive can understand why these sets are valuable. While it may be comforting to know that these sets work well with those who are ready, close-minded swimmers will only suffer if they do not unleash their potential.

However, this still does not answer what is so special about these kinds of sets. Mainly, the failure set is a measure of potential within a swimmer. While obviously asking an often ridiculous effort to barely make an interval, these sets push swimmers to simulate the absolute pain that is necessary to swim fast in both practice and in a meet. Many swimmers are aware with the saying along the lines of "You will perform what you practice". How can Michael Phelps constantly break world records if he does not put forth a world class effort in practice? Through failure sets, a swimmer can test their own limits and discover how difficult the sport of swimming really is.

It is not so much a matter of what workouts do for swimmers as it is what swimmers will alow workouts to do for them. Any amateur swimmer can swim a 1000 meters in the pool, but it is truly a competition of who can make the most out of those 20 laps. Only through certain shining moments in practice can a swimmer develop of love of going fast and maintaining excellence in and out of the pool. That is what is so beautiful about swimming, and that is why optimum performance within swimmers is not limited to only between the lane lines.