SwimSwam took a visit to Florham Park, New Jersey, where Lifetime Fitness Metro Swim Team practices. With a 5-lane, 25-yard pool, head coach Asher Phipps does his best to keep his top group invested and engaged during practice. This meant we were treated to an outside-the-box workout with fun underwater work, nothing too long, and lots of racing.
400 Swim
8x
- 12.5 UW FAST into FLIP :20
- 12.5 IM order drill
2x
- 3×75 @ 1:20
- Back drill
- breast drill
- Free
- 25 Hard Free @:40
10×50
- O) 25 Stroke, work breakout/25 Work underwaters
- E) 25 Free, work breakout/25 Work underwaters
Underwater 50s for 16 Minutes:
there were roughly 6 people per lane, so 6 stations, rotating stations every 50. The first 2 stations are out of the water resting while 4 people per lane are swimming a 50 on 1:10. You start at the back and work your way up to the front by 50, as the leader rotates out of the water each 50. The lane leader (coming off of the 25 wall) has to underwater dolphin kick under each of the 3 other swimmers in their lane. The 2nd swimmer has to dolphin kick under each of the 2 swimmers behind them, and the 3rd swimmer has to underwater past the 1 swimmer behind them. In total, it is 4×50 with the underwaters increasing by 50, meant to simulate a 200 where you’re trying to make your last wall be your best one.
Last set: broken 100s (25-50-25) off the blocks.
I’m always to surprised to hear about these club teams that pop up at Lifetime gyms (or similar), usually as a breakaway group from a larger area club. Any time a club tried to form at the gym like that near my home, they would be denied because the members didn’t want a high volume of kids in the pool.
I guess some areas of the country are more supportive of swimming than others.
This particular LifeTime has finished top 3 at sectionals, won zones, been named a top 100 ASCA team several times, and has only been around for 10 years!!
Places like this are where some of the truly best coaching takes place. It’s not always at mega clubs, with fancy facilities, and it sure isn’t at most colleges with virtually unlimited pool time and resources.
I’ve always been of the opinion that there are wildly different kind of coaching, and trying to lump them all together is not an efficient use of educational resources.
As you say, taking elite swimmers and making them super-elite, while it requires a skill that needs to be learned, is not anywhere near the same as taking age groupers and building their passion for the sport and baseline skills, which is nowhere near trying to build a high school program that practices in a cold pool at 5:30AM for kids who need a PE credit.
They’re all important, and a coach who wants to climb the ladder can gain value from all of them, but they’re not the same profession… Read more »
Great sneak peek into the Metro Area Lifetime practice and culture of Team that Coach Asher, Coach Dan, Coach Irv and Coach Ian have built over the last 10 years!! Here’s to continued success for all the swimmers and coaches!
Asher is one of the best club coaches in the country!
That’s some creative use of limited lane space. Better hope nobody has too deep a pull as you’re trying to kick under them in 4 feet of water!
Not to mention narrow lanes (6′ at Lifetime pools) and no gutters.