Practice + Pancakes: David Marsh Leads UCSD Through Power Stations

SwimSwam wants to give you an inside look at what a normal day-in-the-life looks like for any given swimmer, and how that differs from team to team or city to city. We send our head of production, Coleman Hodges, to be a fly on the wall at practice, then relay what he discovered back to you over pancakes. Or at least breakfast.

In the heart of October, college teams are well into their season, and looking to build strength and improve technique and strength in the water. SwimSwam went to the University of California, San Diego on a Thursday, where in sunny La Jolla, head coach David Marsh cooked up some spicy power stations for the college team to take on. The stations were as follows:

Station 1

4x 25 Polo Ball Catch Up @ :35

4×50 Tractor Pull Partner (wheel barrel), Switch every 25

8×25 Backstroke, strap on feet, HIGH TEMPO @ :35

4×150 Funky Paddles, Breathe every 5 @ 2:00

Station 2

10 Pull Ups

20 Med Ball Slams

10 Burpees

20 V-Ups

Go through as many times as you can

Subtract 2 reps from each exercise per round

MUST STAY TOGETHER AND COUNT TOGETHER

Station 3

3x

6x 25 from a dive, SPRINT @ :30 (fly-bk-brst by rd)

LZR swims (12.5 under off each wall)

RD 1: 9×50 fly/back @ 50

RD 2: 6×75 fly/back/breast @ 1:15

RD 3: 3×100 IM ALL OUT @ 1:40

Station 4

3x 12.5 Resisted Band, streamline kick on the way back, then 25 FAST

4x Weighted Pulley Effort

3x Slide (work on line during entry)

2x 25 Partner Pull

Station 5

WITH CHUTE {4×25 skull+kick @ 1:00 (Fins + Paddles), 4×25 Sprint Swim @ :50 (Fins)}

Partner Races (Same stroke, with fins, drop chute, Rd 3 no fins)

2x {1 Partner SPRINTS a 50, Other Partner SPRINTS 2nd 25 (meets them at turn and races them)}