Swimming and Fitness

Are you going for a swim? Instead of just ploughing up and down the pool to achieve a certain distance or within a set period, why not try one of our training schedules instead?

Welcome to the RAF’s swimming training guide, our chief coach has put together a variety of training schedules to suit your requirements and ability, and stimulate you into improving yourself whether you swim once a week or five times a week. The schedules offer a mix of exercises to improve not just your swimming ability but also your aerobic and anaerobic fitness. Contact us if you would like more focused swimming schedules than are published here.

We hope you will find these both challenging and an incentive to make better use of your time at the swimming pool.

The first set of sessions, seven in total is for those who have never done structured schedules and vary from 1,000m (40Lengths) up to 2,000m (80Lengths) based on a one hour pool time. All schedules are written in lengths.

Example set 40 lengths- (1)
Warm Up 8 lengths swim mixed strokes
Main Set 4x2 lengths free + 15seconds rest after every 2 lengths
2x4 lengths as (2L free 2L backstroke) +20 seconds rest at 4L
1x8 lengths pull free Kick 4x1L + 20 seconds and go faster every one length
Swim Down 4 Lengths easy swim

Try the above schedule using breaststroke instead of backstroke if you are worried about bumping into somebody.

It would help if you had a pull float (fits between your legs) and a kick board/float. If your pool has no pace clock or you do not have a waterproof watch then just estimate the prescribed rest periods.

A water bottle and plastic clear sleeve (to put the schedules in) are useful extras. Exercising in the pool is no different from other forms of exercise in terms of fluid loss, so a full water bottle is important for you to keep up your body liquid levels.

Now have a look through the other schedules linked below that are written in lengths, and plan your next visit to the pool!

Example Set (2000m)
1000m Sets (x2)
1500m Set
2000m Sets (x2)
2500m Sets (x3)
3000m Sets (x3)
4000m Sets (x3)

Contact the Swimming Captains or Managers for further information:

Male Swimming Captain - Cpl Gary Daniell ; Female Swimming Captain - Flt Lt Angela Howard ; Male Swimming Manager - Fg Off Nick Harris ; Female Swimming Manager - Flt Lt Alice Hartley