by
Olivier Poirier-Leroy
3 Swim Workouts with Drag Chutes
Looking for swim workouts with a drag chute to bolster swim speed and hone technique? You’ve come to the right place. Let’s “chute” for improvement and faster swimming.
Swimmers spend a lot of time hitting the pool, developing their skills, and pushing themselves to the limit (and sometimes beyond) with a variety of swim workouts, sets, and swim gear.
And one of the best ways to get faster is with the use of resisted swimming tools like a drag chute.
Drag chutes have been shown to improve swimming performance in a variety of ways, including improving velocity, stroke rate, and index of coordination (Valkoumas and Gourgoulis, 2024, Valkoumas et al., 2020, Matus, 2018, etcetera).
But what’s the best way to train with a drag chute?
In this collection of sets and workouts, we look at some evidence-based ways to improve swimming speed and technique with the use of a drag chute.
Let’s dive in.
The swim workouts include:
Next, we will look at each individual swim workout, offer some background on why it will help you swim faster, and offer suggestions to get the most from your time with a drag chute.
Resisted swimming is typically done at maximum intensity for power development. (Don’t worry, we will do plenty of that later.) But it’s also an excellent way to promote better technique, body position, core activation, and a stronger early vertical forearm.
Swimming with a drag chute can also be used to reduce the gallop or hitch in your freestyle, creating a more balanced stroke. The added “pull” of the chute reduces the dead spots in the stroke as your body smartly self-organizes to create more consistent propulsion.
A study published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research titled “Effect of velocity and added resistance on selected coordination and force parameters in front crawl” showed that sub-maximal swimming (70-80% effort) with a drag chute eliminated catch-up.
As velocity and resistance went up, so too did superposition (overlapping propulsive phases of the arms and stroke).
The workout below will spend a lot of time in that “high coordination” zone without going all-out or maximal.
The Workout:
Post-activation potentiation is a training concept that pairs a high-intensity exercise of muscle contraction and a subsequent sprint or explosive activity.
There is a large body of research indicating the effectiveness of post-activation potentiation in swimmers.
One study, titled “Postactivation potentiation enhances swim performance in collegiate swimmers” paired 4x10m all out sprints on a power rack, and several minutes later, a timed 100m off the blocks.
Average time improved by a whopping 0.54 seconds (an eternity in a 100). Interestingly, the improvement was spread out across both 50s, indicating that PAP “potentially” (ha!) has power and endurance benefits.
Swimmers can use this intel to create a power and speed set with their drag chutes. Here is a sample of what this could look like:
The Workout
Feel the need for speed? Me too! This swim workout is all about building blinding speed in the water with the use of a drag chute.
The main set was lifted from a study published in the Journal of Biomechanics titled “Sprint resisted swimming training effect on the swimmer’s hand orientation angles.”
In it, a group of competitive swimmers did an 11-week swim parachute training program, and at the end saw significant increases in swimming velocity (3.76% faster) and stroke rate (3.09%). In the post-training time trials, swimmers also used a much smaller pitch of the hand during the entry and catch, significantly reducing frontal drag.
The set is deceptively simple, but as with all peak power sets, using the proper amount of rest to reload phosphagen stores and maintain maximal effort and output is crucial.
The Workouts:
The best drag chute for competitive swimmers is the FINIS Swim Parachute.
The chute is available in two different sizes (12” is the “hard” one and 8” is the less draggy chute size), has an adjustable belt to secure the chute, and a long nylon strap that extends beyond kicking feet.
Swimming with a drag chute is one of the best ways to improve in the water.
Whether doing sub-maximal sets or workouts that build top-end speed, drag chutes add an element of novelty and a new stimulus to what can otherwise be boring swim training.
Grab yourself a drag chute, give the swim workouts above a try, and “chute” towards faster swimming and PB’s!
Olivier Poirier-Leroy Olivier Poirier-Leroy is the founder of YourSwimLog.com. He is an author, former national level swimmer, two-time Olympic Trials qualifier, and swim coach.
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