Parachutes have been one of the most used pieces of equipment for resistance training. The current problem with chutes in the swim industry is there are only 2-3 sizes. There are multiple layers to why that is incorrect and just wrong, but for this blog i want to talk about what ONE swim has done to challenge the industry and your practices with chutes. Here is how we have changed the functionality of chutes:
- Belt and Tether is able to disconnect from the chute
- 7 different size options (4″-16″)
- Ability to QUICKLY change chute sizes
With these changes, we have introduced the ability to ascend or descend resistance by chute size. Like any Ascend / Descend swim, you either go up or down in chute size.
Why Descend Chute Sizes?
Most all swims with chutes should be ‘all out’ or ‘all out effort,’ in our opinion. We train our swimmers at an early age that while chutes make you slightly slower, that does not mean swim slow. We teach our swimmers to only go all out with any resistance. This empowers them to use 100% of their muscles and effort into each stroke. We teach the swimmers that while they are working harder for shorter distances, it is about building muscle and effort while you are tired.
Example Set:
2 x 25s All out FR 10″ Chute
50 All out FR 8″ Chute
75 All out FR 6″ Chute
– Unclip Chute, wrap and hook carabiner on belt
2 x 75 All out NO Chute
Repeat 2-4 times
Here is another example of a set:
Each group is doing something different
Group 1 – TRS Wide Rows
Group 2 – Battle of the Beast Ropes FR stroke
Group 3 – Descend Chute sizes 4×50 for time
Why Ascend Chute Sizes?
In our opinion, ascending chutes is mainly for focusing on maximizing the catch. Adding more and more resistance over the set, makes the swimmer very tired, very fast. This means that once you get to the biggest size of the chute, the swimmer has to focus all of their effort on moving forward with each stroke.
Example Set:
Equipment: 6″, 8″, 10″ Chutes
4x through
– 1st time through set 6″
– 2nd time through set 8″
– 3rd time through set 10″
– 4th time through NO Chute
4 x 25 all out FR
4 x 25 all out FLY
4 x 25 all out BK
4 x 25 all out BR