Can you give me a workout plan for 5 & 6 year olds?

Question

I have kids on my summer league team that are new to competitive swimming. Can you help me with some ideas to make practice both fun and helpful?

Read the whole question please. Workout is just a general term for jump in & get out.

Answer 1

I've been a swim coach for a few years now for a summer team ages 5-18. With the littlest kids, we typically do a "kickboard snake" as a warm-up. That means you give the little guys a kickboard and one at a time they jump in in a line. They kick down lane 1, kick back lane 2, down lane 3, and so forth for all 6 or 8 lanes you have available. For more advanced kids, you can have them swim an additional 2 or 4 lanes without a kickboard, and less advanced kids can do an incomplete snake. Just make sure you let the kids that you know are the fastest go first in the line, or it becomes a mess very quickly. It's best if coaches go in the water with such young children since many of them have fears of certain lanes or just are not comfortable in the water yet by themselves.

After the snake (which takes them about 15 minutes out of a 30 minute practice), we'll usually practice diving with them, which can be really cute, since many think that diving means jump off the block in the most creative way they can. It's a great time to break up into smaller groups if you have multiple coaches so the kids can get some more individual help. Even break it up by skill if need be.

We sometimes play sharks and minnows afterwards, where one kid (shark) starts at one end of the pool and has to tag as many of the other kids (minnows) before they swim to the opposite side. Whoever is tagged in the process becomes a shark. Last kid who is still a minnow wins, or gets to be the shark in the next round.

Doing relays with the little kids is great, especially if you give them kickboards to help them out. This way they learn how a relay works, and it makes them much less likely to get DQed in a real race.

Letting your youngest swimmers get exposed to the skills they'll need later as age groupers is a great idea, as long as you keep it short and fun.

Good luck!!

Answer 2

Those who are saying your kids should not be working out are obviosuly not away that you are coaching a team. Younger swimmers are a great foundation for the future and should be encouraged, taught and developed as well as possible.

I am head coach for the 8-and-under age groupers on my team and they swim with me almost exclusively. For your 5s and 6s, you want to keep them interested in the sport while having fun and developing skills, which can be a challenge!

I always start them off with an easy 25 of freestyle. That gets them focused and warmed up a little. I find that my kids love doing 25s of drills or stroke for "points", they try extra hard to pay attention to their technique and it keeps them engaged. The "winner" usually gets to lead the lane during their kickset or go first for dives or turns. I always make sure a different kid wins eahc time so that no one gets favored and they all feel like a valuable part of the team.

Some things my midgets love doing:
- 25s of doggie paddle with barking, this gets their cardio going

- kickboard dives: they kick to the center of the pool with their board and dive down to the bottom with their kickboard to touch the center line of the lane. I find they all try very hard to do this and it builds strength and lung capacity and it's a lot of fun when they flip over, touch for the first time, etc.

- races, any kind, side-by-side. Kickboard, stroke, free, anything to get them going. This is like sprinting when they get older, they really push without even thinking about it!

-swimming with a "big buddy". Older swimmers volunteer to join the midgets in practice. It's a mix of lessons and skills and it's fun and builds teamwork and connections between the bigs and the littles. Both parties benefit from this and the bonding is great!

- quiz time. I ask a question relating to swimming, a skill, a meet or a technique in simple langugae, things we have been learning. Whoeever gets the right answer gets to choose the next drill/skill/game/etc. They tend to thrive on the repetition and really learn things about meets and how they work by playing this game.

Good luck with your kids!!!

Answer 3

You really need to get in touch with an older guy in your area that can show you the ropes. There's nothing anyone could tell you effectively in this forum without a lot of followup and instruction. But on your own I can tell you that when soldiers run through boot camp they come out lean and mean, and the main focus of their program is push ups sit ups pull ups etc. and a hell of a lot of high endurance activity.

Answer 4

At that age there should be no attempt to build or define muscle. Any "workout" should be cardio in nature and not to get the heart rate up, just to build endurance. If you are talking about in the water I would only recommend laps. Outside of the pool you could have them run (both sprints and distance) or basic warm up exercise such as jumping jacks.

Answer 5

What are you doing here? 5 and 6 years old with a workout plan, man this is just wrong. Dont plan on an olympic champ because they will be burnt out on the sport if they are working out already.

Answer 6

Are you f'ing kidding me....

Here's a workout for them...let them get in the pool...watch them swim....when they get out tell them they did a good job...and walk away.

Its called fun dude...and fun is the only thing a 5 or 6 year old should be getting out of being in a swimming pool.

Please pass this message on to the parents who sign their kids up for **** like this at such a young age.

Answer 7

dont listen to people who say your children are to young for competitive sports,thats just the pussyfication of america coming out.swimming is great exercise.competition makes it fun.might also try tee-ball or little leauge baseball

Answer 8

5-6 year olds dont need to be doing anything competitive... those sports are there to have fun.... and they definately dont need to be working out

Answer 9

5 t0 6 year olds do not deserve that kind of treatment

Answer 10

pool volleyball. or basketball. marco polo.