Swim Session #1 - Simple Rhythm Session

By Paul Newsome

• Set a base rate for a comfortable pace
• Basic aerobic swim 30-45 minutes
• Learn to fall into rhythm, and accommodate the turn at the end of the pool
  

The first session you should try with the Wetronome should be a very simple and basic aerobic swim as either a continuous 30 - 45 minute swim at a comfortable pace or as a series of 3 or 4 x 400 to 800m intervals at an aerobic pace with approximately 45 to 60 seconds recovery between each one. This should be done at your predetermined BR (no higher, no lower) in order to familiarise yourself with the audible beep of the Wetronome and how this will aid the rhythm of your stroke. Many people take a couple of laps to get used to falling into synch with the continual beeping sound of the Wetronome, especially when the turn at the end of the pool disrupts your continuity. You should soon fall back into the rhythm though without disrupting your stroke. I personally aim to synchronise the beeps with each hand entry into the water, but you could just as easily do it at any other part of the stroke, so long as your chosen position is consistent and the same for both your right and left arms obviously!

Don't forget that after each session use, the Wetronome will remember what your previous stroke rate was set at, so that when you wake it up by initially holding the magnetic Wand against the Wetronome for a few seconds to wake it up, it will start beeping at you as in your previous session. This is a very handy feature, especially when you are simply doing each and every session always just at BR (i.e. long swim sets or long runs).

Whilst this session is very simplistic, I personally find that a session like this is ideal if you have spent the last few weeks or months working entirely on refining your technique to the point where you feel like you have begun to over-analyse things - this can happen and can also be very frustrating too for a lot of people, especially if you have been making your development task harder by addressing too many areas of your stroke at once! As such, the Wetronome provides you with an excellent "distraction" where your sole concentration is on the rhythm of your stroke; and let's not forget, establishing this rhythm and patterning it in to your neuromuscular memory bank through repetitive use is key to an efficient freestyle stroke. For this very reason, through coaching experience and utilising the Wetronome during my squad and group sessions, it is the novice swimmer who expresses that they get the largest benefit from using the Wetronome as this is often an area of this level of swimmer's stroke that is often lacking. It's not the only way to address this rhythm establishment obviously, but it is a very effective way.

Next: Swim Session #2 - Improve Your Stroke Length»