Swim England Members
Train like a former international swimmer with Michael Gunning's session plan
July 8, 2024Michael Gunning, former Great Britain and Jamaica swimmer, has provided a session plan anyone can try – no matter whether they’re a recreational swimmer or someone who is looking to become an elite athlete.
Here, Michael has shared a quick message alongside his session plan. The plan also includes some alternatives as well as effort level recommendations.
In 2022, I stepped away from swimming competitions after an amazing 16-year career. I won the national championships and attended two world championships, but it’s no secret that I’ve really struggled with fitness and training post-retirement.
My personal best time for 200m Butterfly was 1.57.8 and I couldn’t feel any further away from that. I miss training camps, being ultra-fit and having my buddies beside me every day… but recently I went away and found my love for the sport again and realised that when I swum for fun (rather than setting big goals), I really do still love it and ended up swimming 6k a session.
Swimming is for EVERYONE and whether or not you’re training to be elite or recreational, there is always a lane for you!
Here is a 2.5K session I’ve written for anyone looking to get in the water with a bit of structure. Feel free to adapt or change, but this is something I love to do if I only have a short window to get into the water. Enjoy and happy swimming!
Session plan
Warm up
3 x 200m – 150m Freestyle, 50m Backstroke (4/10 effort)
4 x 50m – descending 1-4 (number one at 5/10 effort, then number two 6/10, number three 7/10 and number four 8/10)
2 x 100m – choice of kick (5/10 effort)
Alternative: depending on your fitness level, you could swim this as a continuous 1,000 meters swim.
Main set
4 x 100m (with 15-20 seconds rest between each 100m) as:
- Individual Medley (IM). To make this easier, you could use an alternative stroke instead of Butterfly or do part of the length in Butterfly and switch strokes.
- Freestyle – with a fast last 25m (choice of stroke)
Allow for 30 seconds rest period and then 1 x 300m as pull and paddles, breathing every three (6/10 effort)
Allow for a further 30 seconds rest period and then 2 x 100m as MAX kick, taking between 30 seconds and one minute to rest in between (10/10 effort)
1 x 100m as strong pace (8/10 effort)
Cool down
1 x 300m as 100m drill one, 100m drill two, 100m drill three
1 x 200m as choice of recovery / kick
*if at any point the distance of the repeat is too long, break up the distance (i.e. 100m could be 4 x 25m or 2 x 50m with 10-15 seconds rest in between).
Total: 2,500m swam