How to Structure Swim Workouts for Navy Diver Training

Preparing for future military swimming and diving training requires spending several days a week in the pool. You must swim, tread, drownproof and swim with fins well. All take practice learning the proper techniques, but each has their own conditioning training to meet the program's standards.

Here is a question about arranging swim workouts so you are adequately prepared to be "good in the water":

Hey Stew, I have been doing long workouts and interval workouts, and I have also been doing some fin work. But what do you think is the best way to structure swimming workouts when preparing for Navy Diver? Thanks, Josh

Josh, as with any training program, you must put in the time and do not neglect any of the requirements, or your lack of preparation will be exposed on the first swim or tread session at Diver Selection. Many failures often stem from people thinking events such as treading are easy and never once test themselves to see whether they can tread with no hands for 5-10 minutes. As with anything in the water, there is a level of technique and conditioning that can only be obtained by daily practice, especially if you are a non-swimming athlete.

Here is the way we structure our military special ops swimming/diving prep workouts:

On upper-body calisthenics/lifting days, we work on swimming conditioning. We start each swim with a 500-yard warm-up swim, followed by a swim workout. We use the 50-50 Workout as a primary workout but add pool-deck PT between sets, often with push-ups, flutter kicks, etc. You can add one minute of treading with no hands between sets of 50-50 if you need to work on your treading. Depending on your workout schedule, you will do this 2-3 times a week.

On leg days, we swim with fins and practice treading with fins while holding weight. The big scuba fins the military diving community issued are typically rocket or jet fins. Both types of fins are difficult to swim in at first, as the flutter-kicking movement stresses your ankles, leg muscles and hips. Do this twice a week (top off your leg day).

Then there’s Mobility Day. I recommend adding a mobility day to your schedule either in the middle of the week or on the weekends. Tight shoulders, hips, knees and ankles are often the culprits in effectively swimming with efficient streamlining and properly kicking a full range of motion during treading drills. Then, after mobility day, do the drownproofing and treading workout. This workout mixes the events of the drownproof test (simulated) and swimming.

So you will do two longer-distance swims with fins. Build up to 2,000-3,000 yards per finning workout. You can add a third if you prefer, which we often do with the Spec Ops Triathlon (run-ruck-swim) workout on one of the cardio days. Swimming intervals and poolside conditioning occur 2-3 times a week. Once a week, practice the pool skills after a mobility or cardio-only day.

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