Recreation

How to use swimformation technology

Full-Feature Service Features available:

• Plan up to a full week ahead with up to two training sessions each day.
• View/edit/print all sessions
• View archived, completed and yet-to-do sessions.
• Modify and change prescribed training to suit your daily mood.
• Set and change personal preferences and details: ability level, stroke choices, heart rate, etc.
• Keep a personal log with training performance history.
• Log post-session feedback with personal notes and view prescribed and actual training comparisons.
• View detailed analysis by session and season of all training: intensity levels, strokes, distance, etc.

swimformation technology uses a series of steps to create your training session. Once you have registered simply chose from four, simple options and hit the create button! The whole process will take about five seconds or less and you'll have a personalized training session created uniquely for you.

To register for the free trial offer simply click the Introductory Offer link and complete the simple form.

It's called 1-Click because after registration you can create sessions with as few as one, simple, single click.

During registration as well as the usual name and password information you will be asked for your gender, year of birth, swimming ability level and stroke preferences. This information is not compulsory but the swimformation technology can do a better job of creating sessions suited particularly to you if you do complete these boxes; for example, if you say your stroke preferences are 1, freestyle, 2, backstroke, 3, breaststroke and 4, none, swimformation will never prescribe butterfly as part of your sessions.

Swimmer standard

A particularly important choice is your swimming ability level. Your choices are:

• Beginner - Swimmers who aspire to be competent and attend once or twice a week for up to 45 minutes

• Intermediate - Recreational swimmers who swim up to 3 times a week for up to one hour.

• Advanced - Serious Recreational swimmers who train up to 5 times a week for an hour or more.

• Competitive Masters - Swimmers aged above 25 who have a dedicated training regime in place with competition plans and targets.

• Competitive World Class - Swims up to ten times at week and competes regularly at National level and above.

These are general categories and you should choose the one which best describes your swimming habits. If you are in doubt then choose the lowest category which nearest describes you.

Key in your best guess and see how it goes. The total distance in each training session and the rest intervals between swims will be different for each level so, for a one-hour session an Advanced level swimmer will be prescribed more distance and shorter rest intervals than an Intermediate level swimmer who will be prescribed more distance and shorter rest intervals than an Beginner level swimmer. If you tend to have time left over at the end of a session you have probably chosen too low a standard, if you cannot complete the prescribed training in the time available you have probably chosen too high a standard.

If you are a subscriber or have registered for the Trial 10-day Full-Feature Service, and find you're easily completing the session within your allocated time you should up your level, if you are having difficulty completing them you should choose a less strenuous category. The 1-click Introductory Offer does not include this option.

Personal Session

When you have completed the registration details and clicked on the sign up button you will be taken to your Personal Session page.

1. Session type

You can now choose the type of session you want (choices are Endurance, Speed-endurance, or Speed). Each covers a variety of four intensity levels but uses a different proportion of each level; a session emphasizing Endurance will contain a greater proportion of aerobic capacity or endurance' work but will still include work at the three other intensity levels, resulting in a balance to the overall programme. The total distance prescribed reduces as you move from Endurance to Speed-endurance to Speed sessions but the amount of fast swimming increases.

2. Session time

Eleven time options for the length of session from 15 minutes to 2 hours 45 minutes in increments of 15 minutes. You should not include the time you spend on warm-up and warm-down when chosing your session time.  Chose only the amount of time you want to use for effective training so, for example, if you have one hour at the pool and want to spend 10 minutes warming up and 5 minutes warming down, your request should be for a 45 minute session; swimmers have widely differing requirements for warm up; some may prefer long easy swims, while other prefer to get straight into an aerobic set so these details are left to you.

Chose the one closest to the time you have available but be aware the prescribed session will likely take up all the time requested. If you have asked for a two-hour session do not spend the first twenty minutes of the two hours thinking about getting in the water.

Because swimformation sessions cover a variety of prescribed intensity levels, you do not need to do long sessions " the variety of speed and frequency of training are more important and effective than long sessions of plodding up and down a pool at unvarying pace. When you first use swimformation technology you may think you are prescribed less distance than you normally do. This is because you may normally swim up and down at the same speed for 30 minutes or so; the swimformation technology underlying this programme is based on world leading knowledge in exercise physiology and includes a variety of intensity (difficulty) levels designed to fully tax the system and produce all-round fitness improvement.

3. Pool length

Five metric and seven imperial (yards) pool lengths are available. If your pool length is not listed simply choose the nearest one. The prescribed repetitions will be matched to the chosen pool length (e.g. 12 x 66 in a 33.3m pool, 16 x 50 in a 25m pool).

4. Create Session

Clicking the create button will produce the recommended session. 1-click Trial users can click the create button to produce further sessions but they cannot change individual sections of the session.

Subscribers or 10-day Trial users can request changes to any of the four intensity levels. If they do not like the look of the created session simply hit the change buttons again (and again, .. and again, ..) and you will see a different set or a whole different session based on the options you have chosen in steps 1 to 3. However, beware - swimformation is designed to create a balanced programme across a full season, aimed at developing total swimming skills and abilities. If you continually over-ride the programme because, for example, you do not like, kicking sets, or 500's, or backstroke, you will alter the balance across the season and your development will not be optimized. It is recommended that you accept the offered sessions and persevere with them; you will benefit more than if you chose things you prefer; however, the choice is yours.

Once the session has been created simply print it out and set off for the pool. There are spaces for pre- and post-session notes so you can keep track of your thoughts and progress.