Understanding Sets: Coach, What the Heck is DPS?

Most sports have their own vocabulary, and swimming is no exception. If you’re new here, this should help!

Stuff in Workouts/Stuff Coach Says

Descend: Goal is to swim each round of a set a little faster. Often abbreviated as (eg) D1-4. First round moderate, 2nd a little faster, 3rd is pretty fast, 4th is all-out
DPS: Distance Per Stroke. Your goal should be to take as few strokes per length as possible. HOWEVER: The idea is to swim efficiently, not slowly. Strong pull and kick. Good shoulder-hip rotation (for free and back) or for fly and breast, good hip drive (Coach, what the heck is Hip Drive…)
Dr. Seuss: A set of 4 x 50s that are swum a different pace for each 50. #1: 1/3 fast, #2 2/3 fast, #3 no thirds fast, #4 all thirds fast.
Hip Drive: Fly and Breaststroke are referred to as short axis strokes because the rotation in the stroke is front to back instead of side to side. Hip drive means you’re pressing your hips against the water to create that rotation and “drive” your stroke forward.
HVO: High Velocity Overload. A short set of 25s from the blocks at max speed
IMO: IM Order, so Fly Back Breast Free
Maximum Heart Rate: 220-your age, so for most of you, 202-205. Sometimes, we do sets where the goal is to have your heartrate in a certain range, often called your Target Heart Rate. See Aerobic vs Anaerobic discussion below.
N/S: Negative split. 2nd half of race or swim is faster than the 1st half.
On The Top/On the Bottom: Refers to the pace clock. On the top means go on 00, on the bottom means go on 30.
SKIPS: Swim-Kick-IM-Pull-Swim
USRPT: Ultra Short Race Pace Training. These sets tend to “look” scary – lots of repeats on short intervals. However, the goal is to do as many as you can at a race-like pace until you miss the interval twice. The idea is that the best way to learn to race is to actually practice high-quality racing rather than swimming a bunch of junk yardage.
UW: Underwater
W/U: Warmup

Getting your heart rate

Coach will frequently ask you to get your heart rate after a set. To do this, take two fingers and hold them underneath the back of your jaw until you feel the beat (this is called your carotid pulse). Watch the pace clock and count the beats you feel for 6 seconds. Multiple this by 10 to get your heart rate.

For reference:

65-75% effort = 130-150 bpm (13-15 count in 6 seconds)
80-90% effort: 160-180 bpm (16-18 count)
Max HR: 200 Club (20+ count). Aka hero mode.

What the heck is the difference between Aerobic and Anaerobic sets and why should I care?

Aerobic Workouts

The primary goal of aerobic swim sets is to improve your cardiovascular fitness and muscle oxidative capacity by sustaining a moderately high intensity — 65 to 75 percent of maximum heart rate (130-150 bpm, or 13-15 beats in 6 seconds) — for 15 to 30 minutes at a time, with minimal recovery between intervals.
Aerobic swim sets are particularly important during the first weeks of training to prepare you for high-intensity workouts and competitions later in the season. Coach might refer to this as ‘developing your base’.
An example of an aerobic swim workout would include four sets of four 100-yard swims, with the first set on an interval giving you 20 seconds rest and decreasing the interval by five seconds per set.

Anaerobic Workouts