YourSwimBook Conquer the Pool Articles About Menu. How to Improve Swimming Endurance and Mistakes to Avoid. by Olivier Poirier-Leroy. Swimmers are always on the search for how to swim faster and longer. How to Increase Swim Stamina in the Water Break up your swims with intervals One of the things that elite swimmers know is that in order to be able to swim a long time with excellent technique and speed, you need to be able to build that performance.

Between the two sets, which one will net a higher average speed? Better technique? The goal was sustained speed, not just swimming endlessly.

Of course, there are other ways you can break up those longer swims. Track your progress for added motivation. The basics include: Overall laps swum. This is the total number of laps you completed in the course of a swim workout. Longest repetition.

The longest, unbroken swim completed during the workout. Average pace. And so on. Mix things up with equipment Swimmers love their toys and swimming aids.

For example: 10× freestyle as kick, swim rest 20× freestyle alternating 1 kick, 1 swim rest 40×50 freestyle alternating 1 kick fast, 1 swim cruise If you are looking for a set that is straight-up for heart rate purposes, injecting kick is a guaranteed way to do it.

Add longer warm-ups and warm ups. Focus on efficiency One of the secrets of high-performance swimming is the ability to swim relaxed and efficiently at high speeds.

Elite swimmers are extraordinarily efficient in the water. You can focus on becoming a more efficient swimmers by: Counting your strokes. This is a case of working smarter and not harder.

Mistakes to Avoid When Trying to Boost Swim Stamina Here are the classic mistakes I see swimmers make when trying to build endurance in the lap pool: 1.

Too much, too soon We can all be impatient for results. Not swimming fast Doing long, slow workouts mean you are creating a long, slow training stimulus.

Introduce speed work to your swim workouts. Not mixing it up I am a big fan of the concept of putting in the reps. More Articles and Resources Like This: Looking for more guides and articles on how to swim better? Here are some more resources to get you going: Fartlek Training for Swimmers: How to Spice Up Your Aerobic Work.

Olivier Poirier-Leroy. Olivier Poirier-Leroy is the founder of YourSwimLog. He's also kinda tall and can be found hitting noon-hour lap swims. Related Articles. Top 10 Competitive Swimming Workouts To Try Swim lane lines, seemingly unassuming in appearance, result from meticulous engineering and design principles to optimize performance, reduce turbulence, and foster fair competition.

Interval Training Perform a series of short, high-intensity sprints followed by brief rest periods. Example: Swim four meter sprints at maximum effort, then rest for seconds between sprints.

Repeat for several rounds. Pyramid Sets Gradually increase the distance of each repetition and then decrease it, forming a pyramid shape. Example: Swim 50 meters, then meters, meters, and so on, up to meters. Then work your way back down to 50 meters.

Fartlek Training Combine both steady-paced swimming and intermittent bursts of speed throughout the workout. Example: Swim at a moderate pace for five minutes, then increase to a faster pace for one minute, and repeat the pattern. Endurance Ladders Swim progressively longer distances with short rest intervals in between.

Example: Swim meters, rest for 15 seconds, swim meters, rest for 30 seconds, swim meters, and so on. Open Water Drills Incorporate open water drills to simulate race conditions and build mental and physical endurance. Example: Swim in open water, practicing navigation, drafting, and adjusting to changing water conditions.

Threshold Training Swim at a pace just below your maximum effort to improve your lactate threshold and increase endurance. When you think endurance training, you think lengthly distances of non stop swimming. Endurance trainings is made up of intervals with plenty of variation. It teaches you how to pace and to maintain your technique, while making you faster.

So how can you make endurance sets engaging, effective and a whole lot of fun? Keep reading and we will give you some of our favourite endurance sets. The key elements of an excellent endurance set are all ticked off by the ladder. During the shorter distances you will set the technique, with the increase in distance the challenge lies in maintaining that same effective technique thought the distance.

The ladder is a great tool to introduce to beginners to progressively get comfortable to longer distances and a real challenge for advanced swimmers by adding the instruction to keep the pace precisely the same from the first 50m to the last distance without blowing up.

There is something for everyone in this great endurance set, click here to adjust the pyramid to your onw level.

Next time your training endurance, pull out the ladder and start climbing. The Pyramid Very much like the ladder, the pyramid has an incremental increase in distance with a peak distance.

Unlike the ladder, the pyramid descends from the peak to the original start distance. The type of pyramid you swim can vary with a unique focus each time. You can tailor the pyramid to your personal needs by 1 going as far up the pyramid as you like, 2 start at a higher start distance, or 3 make larger increments in distance.

What is great about the pyramid as an endurance set is the variation you can throw into the set.