How Much Drill Work Should I Do?

This question came up recently in the context of how we should go about training at home after swim camp (or workshop). So, I would like to elaborate here on the comments I made at camp…

How much drill work should I do?

Good question, but it is not easy to give each of you a personalized answer. Instead, I will share the concepts, as I understand them.

A drill is an activity for the body and/or the mind which slows things down or simplifies them so you can much more easily sense, then adjust, then master control over some feature of your swimming.

Only you will know, by experimentation, how much or how often you need to slow things down or simplify them in order to more quickly correct/improve a certain part of the stroke.

Let’s walk through the concepts…

What is the purpose of doing drills?

It may be commonly assumed that a swimming drill is something we do that is ‘slow’ or something ‘less-than-swimming’ – however, a drill can be in a full range, as passive as Superman Glide or as active as whole stroke swimming at race pace. A drill should be as mentally engaging as it is physically engaging, but it could be just a mental exercise. It can be at any intensity level. It is not necessarily slow, and it is not meant to be ‘easy’. It is meant to be just challenging enough to trigger problem-solving centers of the brain and stimulate improvement in a specific area of skill.

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