My brother goes to swim class. He is 11. He has to do 500y butterfly, 1000y freestyle, 750y breaststroke, 300y backstroke, and 250y sidestroke. They also get breaks, but the total number of minutes of breaks is about 2 total. Is this too much swim for an eleven year old?
Chosen Answer:
The distances your brother is swimming are absolutely ridiculous. After coaching for 30 years, including having national age group record holders, I’d have NEVER had an 11 year old swim a 500 fly (unless it was for being late for practice … he he he).
In addition, swimming such long distances does NOT improve the races an 11 y.o. swims.
Although college swimmers swim long sets, the races they swim are also MUCH longer than an 11 year old’s races and a college swimmer might swim sets (relative to their ability compared to your brother) only a few days per week. Most coaches realize that you can get more benefit from swimming intervals (such as 10 x 50 instead of a 500).
Finally, for an 11 year old to swim long distances doing a stroke RUINS the kid’s stroke mechanics … especially for fly.
Whomever is having your brother do these swims is doing a DISSERVICE to your brother and all of those who swim for that teacher/coach.
by: academicjoq
on: 8th November 11
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Ok. Now, I have never ever been in a swim class, nor am I an expert on the techniques used to swim. I think it is up to you to decide. If you feel that your brother is tired, I think you should talk to his coach or his instructor/teacher. If YOU feel that this is too much talk to them. If YOU feel that the breaks are too short, let them know. If you remain silent, they will think you have no problem with it. Good luck!
It depends on the kid! If he’s been swimming since age 6, and is used to that kind of yardage, NO. Though I’ve not heard of too many coaches giving sets of “500 yd” solid fly. Does he do 10x 50′s fly? That’s really NOTHING, even for an 11-yr-old. Is this the total yardage for the whole practice? This is not even 3,000 yards…. If he were doing 10,000+ yds per day, and showing signs of shoulder problems, then I’d worry.
Honestly, that’s not too much, but if he’s showing signs of tendonitis in the front of the shoulder, then I’d be concerned. Swimming is all about OVERLOAD, even for sprinters; especially this early in the season.
no, that is not too much. it really does depend on which level of fitness he is on, though. when i was 11 (and i’m a girl) i used to swim at least 4000 or 5000 each day, 6 days a week. he swims around 2800 yards in one practice. now that doesnt mean overload him now, but if he wants to get better, he should swim more.
If this is the set, then it’s relatively pointless yardage, if it’s broken out in multiple sets, then it could be beneficial. High yardage is usually ok in younger swimmers as long as they are not weight lifting.
I must answer your question with another question: Is your brother on a swim team or is this class training for competitive swimming? If competitive swimming is the case, you will be doing a LOT of swimming, but I’m on a varsity swim team, and we’ve NEVER had to swim more than 500 of freestyle, so I do think that that’s a bit too much for an 11 year old. If you think it needs to be changed, then maybe you should talk to this about the coach or swim instructor to see if the amount of swimming can be reduced. Too much swimming can cause muscle strains and injury, which your brother doesn’t want.
Depends on if he’s been swimming a while or not. For me that wouldn’t be alot, even when I was eleven, but even then I had four years under my belt and I liked it.
The distances your brother is swimming are absolutely ridiculous. After coaching for 30 years, including having national age group record holders, I’d have NEVER had an 11 year old swim a 500 fly (unless it was for being late for practice … he he he).
In addition, swimming such long distances does NOT improve the races an 11 y.o. swims.
Although college swimmers swim long sets, the races they swim are also MUCH longer than an 11 year old’s races and a college swimmer might swim sets (relative to their ability compared to your brother) only a few days per week. Most coaches realize that you can get more benefit from swimming intervals (such as 10 x 50 instead of a 500).
Finally, for an 11 year old to swim long distances doing a stroke RUINS the kid’s stroke mechanics … especially for fly.
Whomever is having your brother do these swims is doing a DISSERVICE to your brother and all of those who swim for that teacher/coach.
Unless those sets are broken down, (e.g. 1000 free is turned into 10 x 100), those are ridiculous, especially if there’s a total of 2 minutes break. Two minutes break between even two of those sets is already pretty short.