Understanding pool training sessions

Being able to decipher the most commonly used terms and abbreviations in a pool session will take your training to the next level, says Jonathan Cowie.

If you don’t have a swim training background then the terms used in the training sessions on these pages might seem like a foreign language. But there is no need to be intimidated by training sessions. Here we explain some commonly used terms and abbreviations in pool training sessions so you can enjoy the benefits that structured indoor training can bring to your swimming.

Different training sessions have different goals. For a balanced training regime you should divide your training into technique, speed, distance and heart-rate sessions.

A training session is divided into sets. Typically, a session will consist of a Warm-Up, Sub-Set or Prep-Set, Main Set and Cool Down. Sets are structured in intervals or repetitions. 10 x 100 means ten lots of 100 metre swims (four lengths of a 25m pool). After each 100m the swimmer should rest. This can be noted in two ways. Either: 10 x 100, 15 secs rest (15 seconds rest after each 100m swim).

Or: 10 x 100 off 1.30. Using 1.30 as an example time, this means that the swimmer has 1 minute 30 seconds to complete each 100m swim and rest. The next swim will start 1.30 after the preceding swim started, no matter how much (or little!) rest the swimmer has had.

An athlete’s overall training plan is known as a training season. A season could be four years if you are an Olympic athlete, a year or a block of sessions with a particular goal like increasing distance, speed or technique. The season is divided into shorter cycles that build towards the athlete’s specific goals.

Basic pool training lingo

BR – Breaststroke

Back or BS or BK – Backstroke

FC – Front crawl

Fly – Butterfly

FS or Free – Freestyle. Usually front crawl, but any stroke

IM – Individual Medley (all four strokes in order Butterfly, Backstroke, Breaststroke, Front crawl)

Kick – Using only your legs (often done using a kickboard / float)

Pull – Using only your arms (with a pull buoy)

Easy – a slow easy pace

Hard – swimming hard but at a pace maintainable for the duration of the set

Max – as fast as you can possibly swim

For more information see Straight Line Swimming, coaching qualifications developed by Olympic open water swimming champion Keri-anne Payne. This article is from the March 2023 issue of Outdoor Swimmer. Click here to subscribe to the magazine.