Germantown Dryland, Part 1

Goood

This is from US Swimming web page... Fran was a freshman in 1999

500 FR SCY 14 4:30.32 4:30.32 937 US Open 1999 US Eastern Champ 2/26/1999

Julz-The 4:20.44 in the 400 free was from his Soph year, I was there
I believe he was a 4:27 as a freshman.
When you are a great swimmer big drops do not come easily. Look at Aaron Peirsol's 100 back time... 8/21/04 he went 53.45 and at the 2008 Olympic games he went 52.54. Not everyone has huge drops every time they swim...

I just looked up Frans time as an 8th grader or freshman i dont know but anyways here r his free scy times
1:39.57- 200 free
4:20.44- 500 free
9:02.28-1000 free

unless u call half a second in 4 years a good drop for a 500...he was burnt out/peaked like heck, but i dont really care hes my favorite swimmer and im glad he is still in the sport. So ya im stickin with Eph on this one

Eph is kinda right- u can compete at easterns as an 8th grader-u just have to be at a private middle school. But idk if fran was there his 8th grade year or not...ya but idk if you wud consider fran peaking at 15. he got faster just not at the rate he was going before HS

Fran was not at GA as an 8th grader so he would not have been swimming at Easterns.... EPH you are wrong

wait Eph.... you said Fran peaked after 8th grade? He set the National Prep school record as a senior going 4:19.... I would not call that peaking

I agree with EPh, Easterns is an incredible meet. They have crazy teams like Baylor- who has probably the best team in America
Peddi- a respected and expensive school that produces talented swimmers
Cathedral H.S.- they havnt lost a duel meet in el paso tx for like 23 years
GA- Just a great team year in and year out
I havent taken my team there since i think 2000 or 2001 but i want to go back it is truly an amazing experience
Floswimming should look into broadcasting that meet eventhough the venue isnt good and it gets very loud

ya i dont think anyone shud be even questioning GA...especially is you go to Easterns...i saw fran crippen like win dat as an 8th grader...he was agianst high schoolers... BUT he kinda peaked after that and alota of their swimmers burn out (100 100's on 105/110 explains it all) but they r truly badass. u can be slow and on GA and still be badass

GA is nasty. I had the privilege of training there while visiting my roommate last spring. They consistently bang out incredible yardage. The day I was there they swam for 2 hours, did a dryland similar to this for an hour or so, and then swam for another 2 hours. Anybody saying that GA is not an endurance program is frankly very uninformed. 10,000 + yards a day seems like plenty of yardage to me. (p.s. great job Katie and Theresa at trials!!)

For those people saying the behind the neck press is bad for you, you really do not know what you are talking about. My kids do split and power jerks from behind, and we aren't talking about just 45lb bars. I have several guys who can jerk over 200lbs and they have never (NEVER) had a injury. Germantown is def. on the right track with their dryland program. People don't seem to understand the importance of building fast twitch muscle fibers during USS swimming (pre college training). Just like the best swimmers in college are those who train D and mid D. The best swimmers are those who are trained in the weight room as sprinters. It all over laps later on with whatever you are doing.

or maybe "i need more endurance" was dripping with sarcasm

maybe "i need more endurance" wasnt talking about whether they could last in the pool.............

oh jimmay that wall sit is performed to perfection.

I still agree with the anonymous coward. la salle boys do rule the dryland

anonymous coward i could not have said it better

i think we all can agree that the la salle boys rule the dry land when it comes time to work out

I think it is very kind of Coach Schoulberg to put this information out there for viewers to look at and think about. He, obviously, has nothing to prove to any of us as far as his coaching ability goes. Our task, thanks to Garrett's good work, is to take what we learn here, mix it up and decide whether it works for our application.

The exercises they are demonstrating are building endurance... It's just not the traditional type of endurance that you think of. It's not swimming in a pool for 10,000 yards in a day. You need to develop other types of muscles in your body, and by doing the exercises he's doing, he's developing endurance in those particular muscle sets.
Now, I'm not a coach, I'm not a NCAA swimmer, but I do know that a sprinters needs for endurance are a lot different than a distant swimmer. For a sprinter to be working out the same as a distant swimmer, just doesn't make sense. So endurance should be approached as to what you're swimming. You need to build those muscle groups to what who you are. If you take a sprinter and train the muscles to swim distance, it isn't going to do them any good. Vica versa. If you were to train a distance swimmer as a sprinter, that "endurance" training isn't going to help them at all.
It's common sense. There's not a lot of science behind it.

So, the term "endurance" is all in the eye of the beholder. Use it wisely, and for who the swimmer or athlete is, not as a catch all phrase, just because that's the way it's been done for the last 100 years.
Just a thought...

GA doesn't need anything to "put them over the top." They've been Swimming World's national champs a number of times, have set numerous national records, and Shoulberg has put more 400 IM'ers on the US Olympic Team over his career than anyone else. "If only they could last a little longer?" That is one of the funniest things I've read lately.

this is in reply to 'I need more endurance'... I don't know if you know anything about GA training. You say..."more endurance! It looks like the swimmers are way too STRONG & POWERFUL, if only they could last a little longer with some more endurance training in both swimming and land"... First is is bad to be strong and powerful? I thought that was a good thing. Could they last a little longer? They do this dryland with a trained coach (so 'Agree' the kids are being led well) 3 times a week for over an hour each time. As for endurance in the pool... How many swimmers do you know that do 10,000 races at least once a month... or 100x100 @ 1:05 and 1:10 holding under 1:00 the entire time? Jimmy is a young male athlete who does this. I think there is plenty of endurance training at GA. You seem to be misinformed about what they do there. Keep in mind as Jimmy is showing all of this the routine which is relatively new to him so no he does not have perfect form... good thing he is not trying to be an Olympic lifter... (that was to 'coach of many')
The rope with 2 knots... it is used every day for classes at school (little kids 2nd grade - 8th grade) the rope is over 15 years old and is fraying at the bottom... hence the 2 knots. Could you (or your swimmers) climb up and down that 8-15 times without getting off... and do it 3 times a week?

I am so glad I do not swim for Germantown.

"I need more endurance!!!!!!!" -

The kids at GA need more endurance? Are you kidding me? Too strong and powerful? Is there such a thing? These kids do a ton of yardage and are known for that.

The Germantown Academy program is made up of a combination of endurance and strength building sets- they are known for their ability to swim for long periods of time as well as train hard on land. As far as the rope goes, they are not allowed to get off, once they start their climb they may not enter the water until they've climbed up and down a minimun of five times. Jimmy on the incline was very impressive, especially being that it was set up on the highest bar. I do not agree on the opinion below on his execution- I don't believe this is the exact workout the team does; but more of a overview on some of the many excersizes. I heard Coach Shoulberg say they did this for over an hour? I am sure that he makes sure the workouts are safe for his swimmers. Being a wise man of swimming, he would know what is benificial for his team more than somone watching a video.

Yes, Jimmy is looking pretty good. I cannot wait for the next video when Jimmy is in a speedo.
-DAIT

Jimmy, you may need to re-up your tetanus shot - that bar is looking a little rusty.

Love the exercises (except for the behind the neck one)- hate the execution. Almost every exercise is done very sloppy -- his back is never really straight - his whole keeps moving on simple lifts - the emphasis seems to be on just doing it instead of doing it well. Kind of like pounding out mega yardage instead of going for quality ...

kewl

I think that this GA program is pretty good but it just lacks one thing that'll put them over the top: more endurance! It looks like the swimmers are way too STRONG & POWERFUL, if only they could last a little longer with some more endurance training in both swimming and land I think that'll do the trick. That and a little techniqual help on the squatting would be them in another class.
Also as for the preview of Part 2 that's pretty weak that there are 2 knots at the bottom of the rope to help them get out of the pool.

Is GA the only team you stopped at when you visited the north east? I would have been nice too see some of the other successful programs in the area like Suburban or maybe even DST. I would love to see a Charlie Kennedy interview on here.

Geez! Thats pretty awesome training. Great athletic movements. For the people that want to get into the techncialities of the reps/sets, I'm betting Shoulberg has it all planned out. I agree however that it is a bit riskier workout as far as injuries go, but I also think that these compound exercises can potentially get the heart rate higher than water activities and for longer periods of time.

Maybe in the next video he'll climb the rope and jump into the pool lol! Thats gotta be awesome if he lets them do that!

Paul Wolf, agreed. There are so many lifts, light and heavy, that are dangerous and not good for athletes, just bodybuilders/weightlifters. Both straight military and behind the head presses are not good for you. Good luck swimming for long doing those kinds of things in the weight room.

With just a 45 bar, it is mostly harmless, but still can cause minor injuries that will be exacerbated by heavy yardage in the pool.
Overall this is a solid portion of a dryland workout, which can be done on the very cheap by any team. and should be.

good compound exercises, but olympic movements are meant to be explosive and fairly low rep regardless of the weight. Plyo's done on high boxes should always be low rep with large amounts of rest.

I wish i went to Germantown. Jimmy is hot! Haha

Why, why, why, WHY do people insist on behind the neck presses. Especially for swimmers? You can accomplish the same thing with other exercises without risking shoulder injury. Granted it's light weight but still do the movement to the front, use dumbbelss, ANYTHING but behind the neck. It's not worth the risk.

Workout is only for guys like Jimmy McHeldrew who know that it's good for them in the end. This s really giving me ideas. It seems like some track coaches might also want to take notice....especially with the black jumping. Thanks.

Never too much WWW!

I get a kick out of the way Shoulberg talks, he's like wise old man of swimming.