Mazinaw Lake Swim Program
Bon Echo Park
Level 10
Challenge of the week:
This week I want you to complete at least 300 metres of dolphin kick with a flutter board. I want you to work on this distance after every lesson until you complete the distance.
August 6th
Next Steps
- Today instead of swimming I want you to focus on what you are going to do after swim lessons.
- I want you to brainstorm at least 3 ideas of what you can do now that you have finished level 10.
- Take these ideas such as becoming a swim instructor, or being a lifeguard and try to figure out what you need to do to make this happen.
- Once you have finished that I want you to swim at least 200 metres of any stroke.
August 5th
Sidestroke
- To start today we are going to work on our sidestroke.
- You are going to swim at least 25 metres of sidestroke.
- When you are doing this I want you to make sure that your head is resting just above the water.
- I also want you to focus on keeping your head still and parallel to the water.
Surface dives
- Now I want you to swim at least 5 head first surface dives and at least 5 feet first surface dives.
- I want you to make sure that when you are reemerging from the water that you have your arm up above your head just incase any boat might be there.
August 4th
Breast stroke
- I want you guys to start today with some breaststroke.
- You are going to swim 50 metres of breaststroke twice.
- I want you to swim the first 50 metres then take a 30 second break then swim the next 50 metres.
- When you are doing your whip kick try to make sure you are kick back on the water instead of down.
- I also want you to focus on catching as much water as you can in your pull.
Dolphin Kick Vertical
- Now we are going to work on our Vertical dolphin kick.
- You are going to do 3 sets of 10 seconds.
- You are going to kick vertically for 10 seconds, take a 15 second break, kick another 10 seconds, take a 15 second break, then do your last 10 seconds of dolphin kicking.
- Like I said yesterday, when you are doing your dolphin kick I want you to think of it as a kick from your entire body where you start at your chest and end at your feet.
August 3rd
Elementary Back stroke
- To start today I want you to work on your elementary back stroke.
- You are going to swim at least 30 metres twice.
- You are going to swim 30 metres then take a 3o second break then swim the other 30 metres.
- When you are doing this I want you to focus on ending your kick with your feet together, I want you to snap your feet together at the end of your scissor kick.
Front Crawl
- Now I want you to swim some front crawl.
- I want you to swim at least 100 metres of front crawl twice.
- You are going to swim 100 metres then take a 1 minute break then swim another 100 metres.
- When you are doing this I want you to focus on breathing on an axis, meaning that you are going to pretend your head is on a skewer and that you are not bobbing your head up and down only rotating it side to side.
Dolphin Kick
- Now I want you to work on your dolphin kick.
- I want you to swim at least 50 metres of dolphin kick with a flutter kick.
- I want you to make sure that you are kicking from your hips and not from your knees.
- Meaning you are going to want to start your kick all the way up and your hips and undulate your legs up and down.
August 2nd
Distance Swim
- Since it is a holiday today your lesson is going to be a bit shorter then usual.
- I want you to complete 500 metres of any stroke,
- There is not time limit I just want you to complete the distance.
- Once you have finished that you are done for today.
Challenge of the week:
I want you guys to try to swim at least 400 metres of any stroke without stopping. You can try this everyday after you finish your swim lessons until you can complete the distance.
July 30th
Front Crawl
- I want you guys to start by working on your front crawl.
- I want you to swim at least 100 metres of front crawl.
- When doing this I want you to focus on keeping your flutter kick as consistent as possible throughout this distance.
Back Crawl
- To end the day I want you to work on your back crawl.
- You are going to swim 100 metres of back crawl.
- When doing this I want you guys to focus on keeping your breathe consistent as you swim.
- Make sure you aren't holding your breathe or breathing too quickly.
July 29th
Elementary Backstroke
- I want you guys to start off with working on your elementary backstroke.
- I want you to start by doing at least 50 metres of elementary backstroke.
- You are going to focus on the catch of your stroke.
- I want you to focus on catching as much water as you can on the down sweep of your stroke.
- Also make sure you are not recovering your arms above the water.
Sidestroke
- Now we are going to work on sidestroke.
- You are going to swim at least 25 metres of side stroke.
- I want you to focus on your scissor kick.
- You are going to focus on the outward motion of the kick.
- Try to kick out as much water as you can in this motion since it is usually forgotten about but is very important.
Sidestroke wearing clothes
- This is optional but if you want you can try sidestroke with clothes on.
- This is important since you should be able to swim efficiently even with clothes on considering you may fall into water with clothes on.
July 28th
Feet First Surface Dives
- To start off today we are going to be working on our surface dives.
- You are going to start off by working on your feet first surface dives.
- You are going to do at least 10 of these surfaces dives
- Make sure you go 2 metres underwater, then swim 2 metres underwater, then bring yourself to the surface of the water with your fist above your head.
Headfirst Surface dive
- Now I want you to do at least 10 headfirst surface dives.
- Make sure you go 2 metres underwater going downward headfirst, then swim 2 metres underwater, then bring yourself to the surface of the water with your fist above your head.
Breaststroke
- Lastly today we are going to do our Breaststroke.
- I want you to swim at least 100 metres of breakstroke, this distance does not have to be continuous but I want you to finish the distance.
- When doing this I want you to focus on shooting your arms our as much as possible on the recovery part of your stroke.
- Making sure you create as much power in your stroke as possible.
July 27th
Distance Swim
- To start off today I want you guys to do your distance swim.
- You are going to swim 500 metres.
- You can swim any stroke you want.
- The only equipment you can use are goggles.
- There is no time limit just finish the distance.
Back Crawl
- After you have finished your distance swim I now want you guys to work on your back crawl.
- I want you to swim at least 100 metres of back crawl.
- When you are doing this I want you to focus on keeping your head as still as possible.
- Also try to keep your kicking as consistent as possible.
July 26th
Dolphin Kick
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To start this week, I want you guys to work on your vertical dolphin kick.
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You are going to do 3 sets of 10 seconds
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Meaning that you are going to vertically kick for 10 seconds then take a 30 second break.
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Dolphin kick another 10 seconds then take another 30 second break
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Then end off with one last 10 seconds of dolphin kick.
Sun Smart
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I now want you to write a list of 5 things that you can use to make sure you do not overheat and exhibit heat stroke symptoms.
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Once you have made this list, I want you do some research into preventing heat exhaustion/ stroke.
Front Crawl
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To end off today I want you guys to work on your front crawl.
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You are going to be doing at least 100 metres of front crawl
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When you are doing your flutter kick try to kick from your hips and flick your ankles at the end of your kick.
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Make sure that you are breathing off to both sides alternating sides.
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Do not breathe by lifting your head up.
Challenge of the week
I want you guys to work on your endurance whip kick. After every lesson/day once you have finished your activities I want you to do at least 5 minutes working on straightening your whip kick. This will be important as you move on in life saving courses.
July 23rd
Back Crawl
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I want you to do 3 sets of 75 metres working on your back crawl.
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When you are doing this, you will get a 30 second break in between the rounds.
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You will swim 75 metres rest 30 seconds and do those three times.
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When you are doing this, I want you to focus on keeping your head as still as possible and only rotating at your shoulders.
Sidestroke
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I want you to start by doing a side glide where you have your arms in the sidestroke position, but you are doing flutter kick instead of scissor kick.
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I want you to do this for five minutes working on keeping that position.
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After 5 minutes I want you to now do 5 minutes where you are working on your sidestroke.
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You are going to want to focus on shooting your front arm forwards when you are extending in your stroke so that you can create as much power in your stroke as you can.
Stride Entry
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Now I want you to work on your stride entry since this will help you as you move on through the other levels.
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As you did in level 7 you are going to walk into the water and do a scissor kick and clap your hand together so that you are keeping your head above water.
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Make sure that your head stays above water but if it submerges, push the water with more force and try not to jump into the water.
July 22nd
Headfirst surface dives
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I want you to focus on your surface dives to start out today.
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I want you to start by working on your headfirst surface dives.
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I want you to do at least 5 headfirst surface dives.
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When you are doing this, I want you to focus on trying to get to the bottom of the water as quickly as possible. You can try to speed up your descent by exhaling the air in your lungs since oxygen will make you float.
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When you have gotten to the bottom swim at least 2 metres then push off the bottom with your fist above your head.
Feet first surface dives
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I now want you to work on your feet first surface dives.
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I want you to do at least 5 feet first surface dives.
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I want you to focus on the same things that I wrote above for the headfirst surface dives.
Distance Swim
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To end off our lesson today, I want you guys to do your distance swim.
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I want you to swim 500 metres.
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Any stroke.
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It does not matter how long it takes you to finish it as long as you finish.
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I would suggest you use front crawl since it is the easiest way of maintaining
July 21st
Front Crawl
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I want you guys to swim 100 metres of front crawl.
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While you are swimming, I want you guys to focus on reaching our as far as you can on the stroke. Try your best to reach out as far as possible and this will lead you to rotate your body which will lead you right into your next stroke.
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As you are doing this also focus on breathing to both sides equally.
Fingertip drag
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Now we are going to work on a front crawl drill.
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This will focus on keeping your stroke extended as I talked about in the previous explanation the lengthening of your stroke will lead to a smoother transition from side to side.
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As the name suggests fingertip drag is where you drag your fingertip on the reach of your stroke.
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I want you to do at least 5 minutes of this drill.
Breaststroke
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I know want you guys to swim 3 sets of 25 metres
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You are going to swim 25 metres of breaststroke then you get 30 seconds rest which you will repeat at least 3 times.
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When you are working on your breaststroke, I want you thinking about the out sweep and pull of the stroke.
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When you are starting your stroke, I want you to sort of scull outwards with your hands and as you pull the water I want you to think of it like you are scooping the water.
July 20th
Back Crawl
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I want you guys to start by working on your back crawl endurance.
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You are going to do 3 sets of 50 metres. You are going to swim 50 metres of back crawl and when you finish you get a 30 second break and do those 5 times.
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When you are doing this, I want you to focus on keeping your head back, so your hips don’t drop.
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Keep your legs kick consistently!
Sidestroke
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Now you are going to work on your sidestroke which will be important for what we do later.
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I want you to do 25 metres of sidestroke working on your scissor kick
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As you are doing this I want you to think about creating as much power as you can in your kick so that you are not depending on your arms. To create this power you are going to want to like your whip kick snap your feet together at the end of your kick.
Sidestroke wearing clothes
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Now we are going to try sidestroke with some clothes on, if possible, If you don’t feel like your sidestroke is strong enough keep working on it.
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If you feel comfortable, I want you to get a pair of pants, shirt, and socks, and you are going to do what I told you to do with the sidestroke instructions but only swim 15 metres at a time.
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Have some fun!
July 19th
Dolphin Kick
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We are going to start today by working on our dolphin kick.
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You are going to start by working on your dolphin kick on your front without a board.
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I want you to have your hands down by your side and when you are working on your flutter kick, I want you to kick from your head all the way through your body down to your feet.
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I want you to practice this for at least 5 minutes
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Now that you have finished that I want you guys to do your dolphin kick but vertically.
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I want you to dolphin kick vertically for 3 sets of 10 seconds
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10 seconds kick, 15 seconds rest. 10 seconds kick, 15 seconds rest. 10 seconds kick, 15 seconds rest.
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Once you have finished the three sets you are done your dolphin kick.
Elementary Back stroke
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I want you guys to now work on your elementary back crawl to finish off today.
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I want you guys to swim 3 sets of 25 metres of elementary back stroke.
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When you are doing your swimming I really want you to focus on snapping your feet together on your whip kick, and when you are bringing your arms back up towards your head I want you to make sure that you are being as smooth as possible through the water so you are not dragging any excess water, which will slow you down.
Challenge of the week:
I want you to try to tread water for 3 minute each day of this week. You can try out different kicks to see which one you believe to keep you afloat the best. You are going to want to use your sculling skills to keep your head out of the water.
Dolphin Kick
July 16th
Head up Front crawl
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I’ve attached a video explaining the importance of Head up front crawl.
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I want you to try to do 50 metres of head up front crawl. While doing this I want you to focus on kicking and pulling as much water as you can at the same time as the video suggests
Sidestroke
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I want you to do 25 metres of sidestroke
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There is no time limit so do not feel as if you need to go fast just make sure that you are doing the stroke properly.
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I want you to focus on the scissor kick when doing the side stroke because that is where most of the power in your stroke is created.
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You may want to practice your scissor kick on land before you go into the water but once you are comfortable start right away on the 25 metres.
Back Crawl
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To end the day, I want you to do 50 metres of back crawl
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I want you to focus on keeping your head back when swimming because this will elevate you hips meaning less of your body is dragging through the water.
July 15th
Headfirst and Feet first surface dives
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To start today I want you all to do 5 feet first surface dives then you are going to do 5 headfirst surface dives.
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When you are doing the surface dives, I want you to experiment different ways of getting to the bottom faster, that may be exhaling as you are going down or bringing your arms up to try to propel yourself to the bottom.
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I also want you to experiment with different ways of swimming under water for 2 metres. You can do any stroke, but some ways may be faster than others so take this time to test out different methods.
Breaststroke
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We are going to work on the glide part of our breaststroke.
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This is at the end of the stroke when you are reaching out with your arms, and you have completed your kick.
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We are going to do a drill that will help you focus on this part of the stroke.
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You are going to do normal breaststroke at the beginning but once you get into the glide stage of your stroke you are going to want to hold that position for three seconds or until you stop moving. This will help you elongate your stroke and make it more powerful/strong
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You are going to do this drill for 5 minutes
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And the last thing that you are going to do today is 50 metres of breaststroke, you can take as much time as you need to complete it.
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You are going to focus on what we just practiced being focussing on the glide phase of the stroke and try to make your stroke longer.
July 14th
Scissor Kick
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Today we are going to start by working on your scissor kick.
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You are going to do this by starting out of the water and practicing your scissor kick.
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I want you to focus on squeezing your legs together on the propulsion phase of the kick (end of the kick).
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Now that you are comfortable and think that your kick is good, I want you to get in the water and now practice your scissor kick without any arm motion I want you to keep your body afloat with just your kick.
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I want you to try to do 30 metres of this if possible.
Back Crawl
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Now we are going to be working on a drill that focuses on keeping your head still when you are swimming back crawl
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You are going to need a small object that you wouldn’t mind getting wet such as a hockey puck or a cup.
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You are going to put this chosen object on your forehead and you are going to start swimming your back crawl really focusing on keeping your head as still as a you can.
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I want you to try to swim 25 metres without dropping the object off your head.
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I have attached a video that will demonstrate how I want you to do this drill.
Elementary Back Crawl
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Lastly, we are going to do a few metres of elementary back crawl.
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I want you to swim at least 50 metres.
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When you are doing this, I want you to focus on your whip kick, I want you to make sure that you are finishing your whip kick with a strong powerful push on the water. Your feet should be together at the end of your kick.
July 13th
Dolphin Kick
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We are going to start by practicing our dolphin kick today
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If safe to do so I want, you to try to find a rope that you can wrap around your lower ankles while you are doing your dolphin kick. You can use a flutter board or just kick without one with your hands by your sides.
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This will help you work on your dolphin kick without having to worry about keeping your legs together.
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Make sure that you are being safe while doing this.
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I want you to try to do 25 metres straight dolphin kick with your feet tied together
Dolphin Kick Vertically
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Now I want you to use your newly practiced dolphin kick and complete three rounds of ten second vertical dolphin kick.
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You are going to have your hands by your sides and dolphin kicking to keep your body afloat.
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You are going to kick for 10 seconds, then rest for 15, then kick another 10 seconds, then another rest for 15 seconds, then kick for the last 10 seconds.
Breaststroke
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Today I want you to practice a breaststroke drill where you are going to do one stroke and as you are extending your arms forward you are not just going to do one whip kick but you are going to do two.
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This drill will help you emphasize the extension of your stroke making the stroke longer and more powerful.
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I have attached a video for you to watch
July 12th
Dolphin Kick
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We are going to start by practicing your dolphin kick
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We aren’t going to start without a kickboard, and we are going to do our dolphin kick with our arms down by the side of our body.
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I want you to focus on kicking through your entire body instead of just your legs, you are going to want to start the kick by pressing your chest into the water then continue this wavelike motion all the way down to your toes. At the end of your kick, I want you to flick your toes to try and get the most power possible.
100 metre Front Crawl
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Next, we are going to work on our front crawl.
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You are going to be doing 100 metres of front crawl, I want you to focus on making sure that you are reaching your arms out as much as possible on each stroke so that you can create as much power as possible in your stroke.
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Kind of like your dolphin kick I want you to focus on using your entire leg, but make sure you are only bending your knee on the down kick not as you are kicking upwards since that’s how you lose all the power in your kick.
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You are also going to want to focus on breathing to both sides. You are going to want to breathe as your arm exits the water and finish your stroke. Try to breathe every 3 strokes so that you are alternating the sides you breathe on.
Week 1
Challenge of the week:
Swim 1500 metres throughout the week. You can swim it however you want, and you can spread the distance over the entire week. You can keep a written log of the distance you swam and if you feel like you can try to swim the entire distance in one day.
Friday, July 9th 2021
Breaststroke
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Today I want you guys to work on your breaststroke
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When you are doing breaststroke, you are going to be using your whip kick and your arms are going to scoop the water starting at the top of your body scoop the water down to your chest then shoot your arms forward and glide. I have attached a video for a visual representation.
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Things to remember are that you are not pushing the water down but scooping it backwards, your arms should be moving the same direction at the same time
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The timing for breaststroke is: pull, kick, glide
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You should be exhaling your air when you are in the glide phase
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I want you to try to go 50 metres without stopping but I am more focused on you trying to get the form perfect.
Head-First Surface Dives
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Headfirst surface dives are almost the exact same things as the feet first surface dives that we did earlier this week.
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The only difference is that instead of descending feet first you are going to be going down headfirst.
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You are going to go into a pike position in the water to bend yourself to prepare for the headfirst submerge
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Then once you have gone 2 metres down you swim 2 metres then push off the bottom and return to the surface with your first.
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You are going to do at least 5 of these but you can do more if you have completely grasped the concept.
Thursday, July 8th 2021
Distance Swim
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Now that you have worked on your front crawl yesterday, I want you guys to do your distance swim.
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You are going to be swimming 500 metres and this distance can count towards your weekly challenge
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For your distance swim you don’t need to front crawl, but I would highly recommend it because it is the most efficient.
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There is no time limit that you have to adhere to, but you can’t break down the distance into multiple “chunks”
Elementary Back Stroke
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Even though you all know what elementary back stroke is, I am going to remind you of a few points that I want you all to focus on when doing your stroke.
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When performing your kicks, I want you to make sure that your legs are moving symmetrically, meaning I want both legs performing the same motion at the same time.
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When you are recovering your arms, I want you to make sure that you are bringing them up beside your body from your hips to your head.
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If you forget the basics on the movement, I have attached a short video with key points to remember when performing the stroke.
Wednesday, July 7th 2021
Front Crawl
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Today I want you guys to be focused on improving your front crawl form
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I want you to start by doing a catch-up drill where you focus on one arm at a time, this drill is when you have both your arms out in front of your body, and you do a complete stroke with one arm to bring your arms back together then do the other arm and alternate back and forth.
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Once you have finished this drill I want you to swim 50 metres of front crawl 3 times with one minute rest in between the end of your first swim and the beginning of the second.
Feet-first surface dive
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Since you worked hard on your front crawl the rest of the time you can practice your feet first surface dives.
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You can refer to my post on Monday for more things that you should be focused on when doing your surface dives.
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If you have a small object that you can use in the water you can throw it in the water and do your surface dives to go and find it.
Tuesday, July 6th 2o21
Dolphin Kick (Vertical)
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We are going to start today with vertical dolphin kicks
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These are just dolphin kicks but instead of being on your front or on your back you are going to be straight up and down in the water. You are going to do 3 sets of 10 seconds, meaning you are going to dolphin kick vertically for 10 seconds then you get a 15 second break and you do those 3 times.
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When doing your dolphin kicks, I want you to focus on the stuff I said yesterday, make sure that you are kicking from your hips and not from your knees
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Try to make your legs look like waves and move them in wave like motions
Side Stroke 25 metres
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To perform the sidestroke kick you are going to want to be on your side and bring one knee up towards your stomach and shoot the other knee back. Your front foot is going to be flexed and the back foot is going to be pointed. To finish your kick you are going to want to snap both legs together in a scissor like motion.
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When you are doing your kick you are going to want to start in a side glide position where one arm is in front of your head and one is below aligned with your hips
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When your legs go out you are going to want to recover your arms at your chest and when you complete the kick you are going to press down with one arm and shoot forward with your other arm
Sun Smart
I have 2 questions that I want you to think about today…
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Name 3 potential dangers/consequences that are associated with exposure to the heat or sun?
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Name 3 ways that you can reduce the risks that are associated with exposure to the heat or sun?
Monday, July 5th 2021
Front Crawl
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You are going to start by swimming around 50 metres of front crawl and as you are doing it try to focus on in a rhythmic pattern while breathing off to the side. This is important because head up front crawl is not as energy efficient as head in the waterfront crawl.
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After you have finished your 50 metres of front crawl focussing on your pull I want you to do another 50 metres where you are doing single arm front crawl so that you can focus on one arm at a time. While doing this drill I want you to focus on bending your arm at the elbow and catching as much water on the pull.
Feet-first Surface Dives
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When you are doing your feet first surface dive you want to press down on the water with your hands so that you can create momentum up then as your body goes underwater you want to push the water to the surface with an upward motion of your arms once underwater you are going to swim 2 metres underwater and once you have done that you are going to return to the surface with your arm extended above your head.
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Before you do the surface dive, I want you to think of demonstrate self-safety before doing this. You can ask yourself question like “are the conditions safe to swim in?” or “is the water too cold?”
Dolphin Kick
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I want you to start by practicing your dolphin kick out of the water. I want you to make sure that when you are doing your dolphin kick you are kicking from your hips and not from your knees much like flutter kick, and I want you to make sure that your kick is a fluid motion.
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When you feel comfortable with your kick you are going to use an aid to keep your head above water and you are going to do 50 metres of dolphin kick making sure you are using your hips to make your kick as strong as possible.
Wednesday, July 7th 2021
Front Crawl
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Today I want you guys to be focused on improving your front crawl form
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I want you to start by doing a catch-up drill where you focus on one arm at a time, this drill is when you have both your arms out in front of your body, and you do a complete stroke with one arm to bring your arms back together then do the other arm and alternate back and forth.
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Once you have finished this drill I want you to swim 50 metres of front crawl 3 times with one minute rest in between the end of your first swim and the beginning of the second.
Feet-first surface dive
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Since you worked hard on your front crawl the rest of the time you can practice your feet first surface dives.
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You can refer to my post on Monday for more things that you should be focused on when doing your surface dives.
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If you have a small object that you can use in the water you can throw it in the water and do your surface dives to go and find it.
