How to Power Up Your 200IM with the “Quarters” Set

Got a fever to level up your 200m individual medley? Brandon Converse of EGRA has just the prescription with his “Quarters” set.

The individual medley is the decathlon, biathlon and every other -athon of swimming (or something). It requires proficiency in all four strokes, something few swimmers can truly master.

For most of us it is the breaststroke that is our Achilles heel, leading us to spend half the race putting distance on everyone and then trying to catch up on the freestyle leg (every…single…time).

Anyhoo, for those who are seeking to improve their medley times head coach Brandon Converse of Michigan’s East Grand Rapids Aquatics has a challenging swimming workout that will help you develop speed and endurance through all four strokes.

The “Quarters” Individual Medley Set

“This set emphasizes speed in all four strokes followed by a fast 200 IM at the end. When we do multiple rounds, we challenge the swimmers to descend the 200 IM.

The set can also be adapted for swimmers who lean more towards the distance individual medley event.

“You can also do this set with 100 Quarters instead of 50s and a 400 IM at the end instead of 200 IM. We will only do that set one time through,” says Converse.

With all of the stroke 50’s the goal is to tack on more distance swum at high speed.

“For the 50’s add a quarter of the distance fast until the entire 50 is fast,” explains  Converse.

2-3 times through–

• 4 x 50 Fly Quarters @:50-1:00
• 4 x 25 EZ@:30
• 4 x 50 Back Quarters @:50-1:00
• 4 x 25 EZ@:30
• 4 x 50 Breast Quarters@:50-1:00
• 4 x 25 EZ@:30
• 4 x 50 Free Quarters@:50-1:00
• 4 x 25 EZ@:30
• 200 IM Fast

Thank you to Coach Converse for stopping by and sharing this set!

More Workouts:

The Auburn Sprint Set: Or How I Spent Two Hours Driving the Local Lap Swimmers Nuts. This soul-breaking champ-maker of a set took me well over two hours, and I still didn’t have time to complete it. Not for the feint of heart.

Phelps vs. Hackett: Two All-Time Greats Go Head-to-Head in Practice. For a week in 2003 two of the greats went toe-to-toe in a freestyle battle royale. Here’s what went down.