What it is
A daily warmup routine: swimmers get in the water and immediately swim a 50 Freestyle (or variation) followed by a 100 IM Kick in soldier position, no board. The framework is the same every day; only the first swim changes.
Essentials
- 50 Freestyle (or variation) + 100 IM Kick (no board, soldier position), always in that order
- Cue words: "Alright!" for attention, "Ready, go!" for the start
- Keep instructions brief; demonstrate quickly before the first swim
- Focus on movement and comfort, not technique perfection — detailed correction comes later in practice
- Same framework every day; limited variations
- Variations for the first swim: extend to 100 yards, 50 Fly Kick (no boards, possibly with fins), a drill, or add fins/paddles — but always follow with the 100 IM Kick
Progression
- 50 Freestyle (or chosen variation)
- 100 IM Kick (no board, soldier position)
This is the opening block of the warmup. It is followed by 2 × 25 Streamline + Position 11, Question of the Day, and the warmup set (4 × 25 on 1:00).
What goes wrong
- Swimmers hesitate to get in the water (especially younger swimmers or cold water) — use playful incentives like "The last one in is a rotten egg!" to keep transitions quick
- On-deck distractions: extended explanations, dryland activities, waiting for perfect lineups kill momentum — keep instructions to a minimum and get them in the water
- Temptation to correct technique during the first swim — resist; the goal is getting swimmers moving and comfortable, not perfecting stroke
How you know it worked
Swimmers are in the water and completing the 50 + 100 IM Kick within the first few minutes of practice. This is a testable skill at the Developmental Swim Team level.
How you teach it
The whole point of "get in and go" is to eliminate the gap between deck and water. Younger swimmers, and any swimmer on a cold morning, build anxiety in the seconds they spend standing at the edge. A quick, non-negotiable transition — "Alright!" … "Ready, go!" — doesn't give that anxiety time to take hold. It also cuts the on-deck dead time where practices lose momentum: no long explanations, no dryland warmup, no waiting for everyone to line up perfectly. Starting with immediate action sets an energetic tone and has swimmers engaged from the first stroke.
The framework is deliberately rigid. Every single day the structure is the same two swims. What changes is the first 50: it might be freestyle, a kick, a drill, with fins, with paddles — something different to keep it from becoming rote. But the 100 IM Kick in soldier position, no board, always follows. That consistency is the point. Swimmers know exactly what to do, so the cognitive load is on being in the water and moving, not on figuring out what the activity is.
Resist the urge to make the first swim a teaching moment. The 50 is about getting the whole body moving and comfortable. Technique work starts with the 2 × 25 Streamline and Position 11 that immediately follows. If you start correcting stroke on the 50, you've turned a transition into a lesson and lost the momentum the routine is designed to create.