Category: Beginner
Workout Goal: Combine endurance, pacing, breathing rhythm, and freestyle turns
Total Distance: 1,200 yards
4 × 50 yards easy freestyle
Swim at a relaxed, steady pace.
Focus on smooth breathing, a relaxed kick, and controlled strokes.
Rest 20–30 seconds between each 50-yard repeat.
4 × 50 yards easy freestyle with a focused turn at the 25-yard wall
Approach the wall smoothly while maintaining your speed and stroke rhythm.
Try to finish on a full stroke rather than gliding into the wall.
When comfortable, work toward taking your final breath before your last stroke into the wall and continue exhaling into the turn.
Use a flip turn if you are comfortable with it. A controlled open turn is also completely appropriate.
Rest 20–30 seconds between each 50-yard repeat.
Going into the wall without a final breath is a technique goal, not a requirement. If you need a breath, take one.
2 × 200 yards freestyle
Start at a comfortable pace that you can maintain for the entire 200.
Keep your breathing relaxed and try to make the second 100 feel as controlled as the first.
Maintain your stroke rhythm as you approach each wall and use the turn that allows you to swim smoothly.
Rest 45–60 seconds between each 200-yard repeat, or longer if needed.
2 × 100 yards freestyle
Swim at a steady, controlled pace.
Avoid starting too fast. Try to maintain your pace and technique through the final 25 yards.
Continue practicing smooth wall approaches and turns.
Rest 30–45 seconds between each 100-yard repeat, or longer if needed.
4 × 25 yards
25 yards backstroke
25 yards breaststroke
25 yards dolphin kick on your back, or easy butterfly if comfortable
25 yards easy freestyle
Rest briefly between each 25 if needed.
100 yards easy choice
Swim slowly and allow your breathing and effort to settle.
Break the 100 into shorter sections if needed.
This final beginner workout brings together the skills practiced throughout the series while increasing the distance of the main repeats. The 200-yard swims are an opportunity to practice pacing: start comfortably enough that you can maintain good technique throughout the entire distance.
Try to avoid swimming the first part of a repeat much faster than the last. A steady, sustainable pace is more useful here than starting fast and struggling to finish.
Continue practicing your breathing, kick rhythm, wall approach, and turns, but do not sacrifice comfortable swimming to perform any one skill perfectly. Flip turns are optional; controlled open turns are completely appropriate for fitness swimming.
If 200 yards continuously is still too difficult, pause briefly at the 100-yard mark or replace the 2 × 200 with 4 × 100 yards. You can return to this workout later and work toward completing the 200s continuously.