Hey I'm a swimmer in high school (Junior). I've been swimming since my freshman year and my time in the 100 free is :57.45 and my time in the 50 is :26.21. I kind of slacked off my freshman and sophomore years but now I actually care. I will be working hard in the offseason. I would LOVE to be on our top 400 free relay next year which has a time of about 3:23. Do you think that it's possible for me to go a :51/:50 by next year? I'll have about 9-10 months. Any thoughts?

It is definitely, extremely possible - and that kind of jump happens often. I don't know how far along you are in puberty, but its very often that simply growing a few inches and gaining some muscle will get you to that point.

Try to incorporate some weight training into your routine. Once you get to higher level high school swimming, many swimmers (especially sprinters), will begin to work with weights to help build the muscle mass needed to go fast. I would talk with your coach about setting up a fitness routine that will help you gain muscle over time without injuring you (you can't go fast if you're hurt!). Just remember that its important to emphasize repetitions, and NOT weight. You aren't power training, you're resistance training.

(Jan 29, 2012 10:51pm)Zash Wrote:  It is definitely, extremely possible - and that kind of jump happens often. I don't know how far along you are in puberty, but its very often that simply growing a few inches and gaining some muscle will get you to that point.

Try to incorporate some weight training into your routine. Once you get to higher level high school swimming, many swimmers (especially sprinters), will begin to work with weights to help build the muscle mass needed to go fast. I would talk with your coach about setting up a fitness routine that will help you gain muscle over time without injuring you (you can't go fast if you're hurt!). Just remember that its important to emphasize repetitions, and NOT weight. You aren't power training, you're resistance training.

Alright thanks dude. I will be working out. My coach has this swimming workout routine that I am following. This summer I'm gonna do p90x and I'm gonna be running 5 days a week and swimming for 2 hours a day so I hope this will get me in the shape I need to be in. The only thing is that I've been swimming since my freshman year and I'm already 17 so I don't think I have too much potential unfortunately.