These are for people who can swim a length or two and want something better than going up and down until they get tired. Every set has rest written into it. Use it.
Breaststroke is fine anywhere it says free, apart from the front crawl set. If you're starting from a few gasping lengths, the Zero to 1K plan builds you up week by week.
4 × 100 free @ 2:00 means swim four 100s, leaving every two minutes; whatever time is left is your rest. 20s rest means rest 20 seconds after each one. Send-offs are set for the pace on each card, so add five seconds if they feel tight. All sets are in metres for a 25m pool. Load this set opens it in the builder, where you can change anything, print it or send it to your Garmin.
For: New or returning swimmers who can manage a length but not much more.
Take all the rest you need. Finishing every length matters more than the clock.
For: Swimmers who can do 50m at a time and want to string more together.
If a 100 is too far, swim it as 2 × 50 with a short breather at the wall.
For: Beginners who can swim 100m without stopping and want to reach a kilometre.
The 300 is the hard bit. Start it slower than feels necessary.
For: Beginners whose legs sink or who run out of breath after a length.
Short floppy fins are best. Long fins make it too easy to skip the work.
For: Breaststroke swimmers learning front crawl one length at a time.
Breathe out under water all the way. Most crawl panic is holding your breath.
Somewhere between 400m and 1000m a session is plenty, broken into short pieces with rest. Two or three swims a week will move you on faster than one long one.
An easy warm-up, a main set of short swims with rest, a bit of kick or drill work, and an easy cool-down. That's the shape of every set on this page.
No, but they help. A board lets you practise kicking without worrying about breathing, and short fins keep your legs up while you learn the drills. Most pools lend boards.
All 28 sets are on the workouts page, grouped by goal.