On two separate occasions over the last six months Kevin Cordes has traveled to the University of British Columbia to train with legendary breaststroke coach Jozsef Nagy. Nagy is known for his work with swimmers such as Mike Barrowman, Sergio Lopez, Roque Santos and Annamay Pierse.
In this discussion Cordes outlines some of the unique aspects of training with Nagy.
Two sets that Nagy has used consistently throughout his career are the ‘Carnival’ and the ‘Carnival Festival’ which are outlined below:
Carnival
- 8 x 50 on 1’
- 100 easy choice
- 4 x 75 (25 kick-25 Pull-25 swim) on 1’15 + 30-45” rest
- 4 x 100 (25 kick-25 Pull-50 swim) on 1’45 + 30-45” rest
- 4 x 150 (50 kick-50 Pull-50 swim) on 2’15 + 30-45” rest
- 4 x 300 (100 kick-100 Pull-100 swim) on 4’30 + 30-45” rest
- 4 x 150 (50 kick-50 Pull-50 swim) on 2’15 + 30-45” rest
- 4 x 100 (25 kick-25 Pull-50 swim) on 1’45 + 30-45” rest
- 4x 75 (25 kick-25 Pull-25 swim) on 1’15
- 100 easy
- 8 x 50 on 1’
Carnival Festival
- 100 easy
- 2 x 75
- 2 x 100
- 1 x 150
- 1 x 300
- 1 x 150
- 2 x 100
- 2 x 75
- 100 easy
- 8 x 50 FAST!!!!!!!!!!!!!
- 100 easy
That carnival set is 4800 yards.
That is a LOT of breaststroke.
Two questions:
1) Are both sets 100% breaststroke?
2) Cordes refers to the “roller coaster” set in this interview. Any idea what that one is?
1) I read some stuff by Nagy in the ASCA Advanced Breaststroke book, and if I remember right (it’s been a while), he’s big on compartmentalizing the pull and kick in breast to focus on them individually, and then incorporating them together in the swim. So the “x kick, x pull, x swim” format makes me think this set was written for breaststrokers. I imagine it would work just as well for the other strokes, however.
2) Nope. Honestly, there might be something in the aforementioned ASCA book that I missed or have forgotten, but nothing rings a bell for me at the moment.
Sorry, didn’t fully answer the question asked in #1. Yes, I think aside from the easy 100’s, this is supposed to be all breast.
https://youtu.be/mmk-5XmRILg?t=6m33s here is the “Rollercoaster”