Sprinting fast is all about testing the right systems and muscles under the right conditions.
This high neural, high lactate sprint swim workout—via Jake Shellenberger, head coach at Liberty University—checks a lot of boxes for swimmers looking to go faster:
⚡ Explosive underwaters
⚡ Max-speed resisted kicking and swimming
⚡ Race-specific conditioning as lactate builds quickly
⚡ Flat-out fun – cycling through types of high-intensity swimming will keep you engaged and focused on speed
The workout will help swimmers hold speed on race day when their legs and personal best times start screaming for mercy.
Let’s get after it.
WARM-UP
General and specific warm-up (2,500)
- Build gradually from easy swimming, throw in some kick to get the legs warm, and finish with short bursts of speed so that you are ready to go for the main set.
MAIN SET
3 rounds:
1×25 fast underwater dolphin kick from a dive on 30s
4×12.5m max effort alternating ODDS: kick, EVENS: swim on 25s
- With fins + heavy resistance (power tower, tubing, large drag chute)
Take an extra 10s rest to unbuckle resistance and take off fins
50 swim max
Attack your back half 100 pace. This should hurt, but in a very specific way.
200 easy between rounds
GEAR YOU’LL NEED
- Kickboard and pull buoy (for the general warm-up if needed)
- A set of short blade training fins (better for high tempo kicking vs long blade fins) and heavy resistance tool (power tower, resistance tubing, large drag chute)
SET NOTES
- This is a high neural, high lactate sprint set designed to build your capacity to hold speed on the second 50 of a 100. Quality matters more than volume.
- The resisted 12.5s overload acceleration and force production. The push 50 tests whether you can then hold speed under fatigue.
- The push 50 is all about lactate tolerance at race-specific speed, not survival swimming. It will “hurt” in a very specific way that is relevant to closing your 100 events.
- This swim workout was done with elite swimmers in mind, so adjust resistance, rest, or rounds as needed to keep speeds high and technique intact.
- “We saw some great efforts here, with the freestylers pushing 25’s and 26lows,” noted Shellenberger when he emailed the set over. “Breaststrokers going 31’s and 32’s. Our top flyer was 26.1 on her fastest 50 fly.
Happy sprinting!
THE 50 FREESTYLE BLUEPRINT
Stop Leaving PBs on the Blocks. Learn How Elite Sprinters Dominate the 50 Freestyle.
Most swimmers struggle with the 50 free and don’t know why. The problem isn’t talent–it’s the things no one has told them about sprinting. The start mechanics. The right way to train. The dryland. The sprint-specific technique that’s completely different from “regular” freestyle. Fix those, and PB’s start to fall.
WHAT’S INSIDE
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- Sprint-specific dryland
- 20 proven sets to get you started
- Energy systems, resisted sprinting, overspeed, and much more
- BONUS 54-page guide on mastering the 100 freestyle
AS SEEN IN
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