Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Oct;39(4):883-888.
doi: 10.5114/biolsport.2022.109954. Epub 2021 Nov 10.

Training periodization for a world-class 400 meters individual medley swimmer

José María González-Ravé  1 , David B Pyne  2 , José Antonio Del Castillo  1   3 , Fernando González-Mohíno  1   4 , Michael H Stone  5
Affiliations

Training periodization for a world-class 400 meters individual medley swimmer

José María González-Ravé et al. Biol Sport. 2022 Oct.

Abstract

We present a case study of the periodized training by a world-class 400-m Individual Medley (IM) swimmer (4th in 2019 World Championships) in the season leading to a bronze medal in the 2018 European Championship. The complexity of this IM preparation was based on the experiences, observations and innovations of an Olympic swimming coach. Over 52 weeks, a traditional periodization model was employed using three macrocycles. A total of 15 competitions were completed in the season increasing in frequency in the third macrocycle. The training intensity distribution (TID) followed the pattern of a traditional pyramidal model in general training and polarized and threshold models during specific training before competitions. Weekly training volume ranged from 25 to 79 km, 24 to 87 km, and 25 to 90 km in each of the three macrocyles. Altitude training comprised 23% of total training weeks. Haemoglobin [Hb] increased from 14.9 to 16.0 g/100 ml and haematocrit from 45.1 to 48.1% after altitude training. Heart rate (HR) and [La-] decreased at submaximal swimming intensities, while swimming velocity increased in the 8 × 100 m incremental swimming test in A2 (1.4%) and in AT (0.6%). Pull up power was increased 10% through the season.

Keywords: Elite; Macrocycles; Male; Progression; Season.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.

Figures

FIG. 1
FIG. 1
52 weeks of training periodization for a world-class 400 m-IM with three distinctive major competitions.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Pyne DB, Sharp RL. Physical and energy requirements of competitive swimming events. Int J Sport Nutr Exe 2014; 24(4):351–359. - PubMed
    1. Toubekis AG, Tokmakidis SP. Metabolic responses at various intensities relative to critical swimming velocity. J Strength Cond Res 2013; 27(6):1731–1741. - PubMed
    1. Hellard P, Avalos-Fernandes M, Lefort G, et al. . Elite swimmers’ training patterns in the 25 weeks prior to their season’s best performances: insights into periodization from a 20-years cohort. Front Physiol 2019; 10:363. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Stewart AM, Hopkins WG. Seasonal training and performance of competitive swimmers. J Sports Sci 2000; 18(11):873–884. - PubMed
    1. Krüger A. From Russia with Love? Sixty years of proliferation of LP Matveyev’s concept of Periodisation? Staps 2016(4):51–59.