Michael Andrew Swims Around 4,000 Yards in His First Arizona State Workout

Arizona State head coach Herbie Behm has sent SwimSwam the workout that Olympic gold medalist Michael Andrew swam in his first practice as part of the Sun Devils training group.

For anyone expecting that Andrew’s new coaching regimen would launch into some kind of massive aerobic-work, quite the opposite took place. Andrew swam a total of 3,880 yards, and aside from a 200 warmup, no repeats were longer than 100 yards.

In total, the set was 3,880 yards (rounding to about 4,000 for where he presumably completed a length after a 15 yard effort), plus a presumed cooldown (which wasn’t on the document that Behm provided).

While the workout wasn’t pure USRPT, the training that Andrew made famous, it did have a lot of short efforts on fairly-long rest intervals. USRPT is predicated on training full-speed at mostly under-distances, replicating race speed for a shorter length, on repeats.

This workout incorporated some less-than-max-speed work, and the closest thing it had to aerobic work was a set of 8×100 loaded up with equipment. That’s another derivation from Andrew’s previous training, where he used very little equipment.

The Workout Dissected (original workout follows)

Warm-Up and Relay Starts

  1. 200 choice – 200 yards
  2. 4 relay starts – Generally, relay starts don’t cover a lot of distance; let’s estimate 15 yards per start = 60 yards

Total for Warm-Up: 260 yards


First Set (2 Rounds)

  1. 2×100 flutter kick w/board = 200 yards per round
  2. 2×50 w/4 kicks + 7 strokes = 100 yards per round
  3. 4x (5 kicks + 4 strokes) MAX SPEED on :30 = 100 yards per round

Total per Round: 400 yards
Total for 2 Rounds: 800 yards


Second Set

  1. 8×100 w/buoy + paddles + band + breathing every 3 = 800 yards
  2. 4×25 w/paddles + buoy @ ankles = 100 yards
  3. 4x (6/6 buoy drops) MAX SPEED = 100 yards

Total for Second Set: 1,000 yards


Third Set

  1. 4×50 w/4 kicks + 7 strokes = 200 yards
  2. 4×15 MAX SPEED – Since 15-yard swims are specified, 4×15 = 60 yards
  3. Alternating MAX SPEED and easy swims:
    • 1×50 easy = 50 yards
    • 2×25 MAX SPEED = 50 yards
    • 1×50 easy = 50 yards
    • 1×50 MAX SPEED = 50 yards
    • 1×50 easy = 50 yards
    • 1×50 MAX SPEED = 50 yards
    • 1×50 easy = 50 yards
    • 2×25 MAX SPEED = 50 yards
    • 1×50 easy = 50 yards

    Subtotal for Alternating Section: 400 yards

  4. 4×15 MAX SPEED = 60 yards
  5. 4×50 w/4 kicks + 7 strokes = 200 yards

Total for Third Set: 920 yards


Fourth Set (2 Rounds)

  1. 1×100 streamline flutter on back = 100 yards per round
  2. 3×50 IM switch = 150 yards per round
  3. 8×25 on :30 = 200 yards per round

Total per Round: 450 yards
Total for 2 Rounds: 900 yards


Total Yardage

  • Warm-Up and Relay Starts: 260 yards
  • First Set: 800 yards
  • Second Set: 1,000 yards
  • Third Set: 920 yards
  • Fourth Set: 900 yards

Total Yardage: 3,880 yards

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Ohio Swimmer
13 days ago

MA definitely has a lot more potential in his events and could be very versatile and qual for Team USA in many events with Herbie’s training. At the moment ASU hasn’t lost a dual meet yet and MA at Sun Devil Aquatics will hopefully be able to do Prelims Semi and Finals at major meets.

Hawkie
2 months ago

YOU SHOULD HAVE STAYED IN ORANGE COUNTY! YOU BROKE MY HEART! YOU WOULD HAVE BEATEN CIELO in 2024!!! SPRINT REVOLUSHUN!!!

Lauren
2 months ago

Wooo just like entering a Colorado Springs training camp of difficulty for MA! Will be great for him. Cheering him on.

phelps swims 200 breast rio
2 months ago

Love the headline

Billy Howard
2 months ago

Where’s today’s update? : )

Xman
2 months ago

How did today go?

Did he do 4001 yards?

Weinstein-Madden-Ledecky-Gemmell
Reply to  Xman
2 months ago

Michael Andrew booked an one-way ticket to Costa Rica.

bob
Reply to  Weinstein-Madden-Ledecky-Gemmell
2 months ago

Going to Cariari to train with the Poll sisters next? Good plan.

ACC fan
2 months ago

Loving this update! So happy for him and USA swimming that he’s made this step!

Clown Patrol
2 months ago

Aaaaand all of the former swimmers who never went past a Jr Nationals (MAYBE) commence and drag MA through the mud. Typical loser former athlete mentality in this thread.

Dude is still passionate for learning and training and adopting new habits to improve instead of just resting on laurels of having already been to the Olympics, winning a Gold and setting a WR.

“Ive done more yardage with my left pinky than he has his entire life!”, anon commenter says to himself from his cubicle desk job. Smh

About Braden Keith

Braden Keith

Braden Keith is the Editor-in-Chief and a co-founder/co-owner of SwimSwam.com. He first got his feet wet by building The Swimmers' Circle beginning in January 2010, and now comes to SwimSwam to use that experience and help build a new leader in the sport of swimming. Aside from his life on the InterWet, …

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