Swimming blog - ENDURANCE Endurance Sets: Effective and Fun

When you think endurance training, you think lengthly distances of non stop swimming. That shouldn’t be the case. Endurance trainings is made up of intervals with plenty of variation. It teaches you how to pace and to maintain your technique, while making you faster. So how can you make endurance sets engaging, effective and a whole lot of fun? Keep reading and we will give you some of our favourite endurance sets.

The Ladder
It’s simple, fun, scalable and effective. The key elements of an excellent endurance set are all ticked off by the ladder. 



During the shorter distances you will set the technique, with the increase in distance the challenge lies in maintaining that same effective technique thought the distance. The ladder is a great tool to introduce to beginners to progressively get comfortable to longer distances and a real challenge for advanced swimmers by adding the instruction to keep the pace precisely the same from the first 50m to the last distance without blowing up. There is something for everyone in this great endurance set, click here to adjust the pyramid to your onw level. Next time your training endurance, pull out the ladder and start climbing. 

The Pyramid
Very much like the ladder, the pyramid has an incremental increase in distance with a peak distance. Unlike the ladder, the pyramid descends from the peak to the original start distance. The type of pyramid you swim can vary with a unique focus each time.


You can tailor the pyramid to your personal needs by (1) going as far up the pyramid as you like, (2) start at a higher start distance, or (3) make larger increments in distance.

What is great about the pyramid as an endurance set is the variation you can throw into the set. You could kick the uneven distances and pull the even distances. You could sprint the shorter distances or add other strokes in the pyramid on certain distances. It can be customised anyway you want it. Take a look at our pyramid, and get inspired to create your own.

The Grant 
The grant is a time trail for clocked time. If you have a sports watch, then use this. If you don’t, use the clock on the pool deck or ask a friend or coach.

We regularly swim the grant in our pool and our members love it. Time flies and it is a great way to incorporate a continuous swim into your training while building up mental and physical strength.

1500m for time has been used for many generations to measure the aerobic threshold. The time you swim on the 1500m will be your Critical Swim Speed (CSS) which represents your current swim fitness. So for instance if you finishing time is 28 minutes and 46 seconds. Then your CSS pace is 28.46 seconds per 25m. You can use this outcome very effectively in your endurance training. Training on CSS pace will increase the speed you can sustain on longer distances, and therefor make you a faster endurance swimmer. 

Progress & Regress
With this endurance set you are up for a challenge. 

Between every distance there is 30 seconds of rest, this is necessary especially when the pace increases and the fatigue kicks in. This is an excellent set to teach you how to pace, which is necessary when swimming longer distances. 

These where our chosen endurance sets which we incorporate often into our training. These sets motivate us, teaches us how to pace and how to keep our technique, while making us faster. Next to these sets we have 134 effective endurance sets available to you. Give them a try and find the perfect endurance set that works for you.