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Swimming · Dryland Training · Ages 11-12

Swimming Dryland Training Practice Plan for 11 and 12 Year Olds

At 11 and 12, dryland gets its band (the light resistance loop that upgrades the shoulder guard), core PROGRESSIONS (hollows extending, dead bugs arriving), THORACIC mobility (the upper back's reach: where teenage streamlines tighten first), and streamline STRENGTH: the pose held under gentle load, walls' land tax pre-paid.

This session runs about an hour with a light band (or towel substitutes). The swimmer's dryland identity settles: shoulders guarded weekly, the core's line strengthened, the upper back kept reachable, ankles kept floppy. Growth-spurt weeks double the mobility and halve the ambition, stated plainly.

Practice Plan

Home Session: The Band Arrives

The shoulder guard upgrades, the core progresses, and the upper back guards its reach. The swimmer's land identity settles into its weekly shape.


Warmup · 10 minutes

Full Ramp

Duration10 minEquipmentcarpet

Animal laps, rocket jumps, superman-hollow pairs, arm circles building. The identity assembles.

Coaching Cue

Cue: "The swimmer's animals report."


Block 1: The Guard, Upgraded · 20 minutes

Band Rows and Pulls

Duration10 minEquipmentlight band

The upgrade: band pull-aparts (arms wide, blades squeezing, ten), band rows (anchored low, elbows drawing back, ten), band Ys (light, floating, eight). Two rounds, precision gating everything. The guard's muscles, now measurably fed.

Coaching Cue

Cue: "Light band, perfect lines. The guard eats precision."

External Rotations

Duration10 minEquipmentband

The rotator's specific meal: elbow-pinned external rotations (the forearm swinging out, slow, eight per side), two rounds, then blade-squeeze holds. The sport's most-billed joint, insured weekly at this age forever.

Coaching Cue

Cue: "Elbow glued, forearm swings the gate. Slow is the whole point."


Block 2: The Line's Progressions · 20 minutes

Hollow Extensions

Duration10 minEquipmentcarpet

The core matured: hollow holds extending (twenty-plus seconds, three reps), hollow ROCKS (the shape rocking gently, ten rocks, twice), superman pairs continuing. The line under more time and motion.

Coaching Cue

Cue: "Longer hollows, gentle rocks. The line learns endurance."

Dead Bugs

Duration10 minEquipmentcarpet

The coordination core: dead bugs (back pressed, opposite arm-and-leg lowering slow, six per side, two rounds), the swimmer's cross-body control built lying down. Slow and pressed or not at all.

Coaching Cue

Cue: "Back glued down, limbs travel slow. The bug dies pressed."


Block 3: Reach and Rocket · 10 minutes

Thoracic Openers

Duration5 minEquipmentcarpet

The reach guarded: thread-the-needles (thirty seconds per side), the kneeling reach-through, cat-cows flowing. Teenage streamlines tighten from the upper back first; the openers pre-pay.

Coaching Cue

Cue: "Open the upper back. The rocket rents its reach from there."

Loaded Rockets

Duration5 minEquipmentnone (a light book optional)

The pose under gentle load: wall-standing rockets (back flat to a wall, arms sliding overhead staying flat: the honest reach test), five slides; one rocket jump sequence landing soft. The wall's judgment is the streamline's land exam.

Coaching Cue

Cue: "Flat to the wall, slide tall. The wall grades reach honestly."


Finish · 0 minutes

The Book

Durationpoolside/bedsideEquipmentthe log

Logged: band rounds, hollow times, wall-slide grades, ankle minutes. The identity's ledger opens properly.

Coaching Cue

Cue: "Book the guard. The shoulders thank the accountant."


What to watch today: band ambition. Light is the law (the guard muscles are small and precise, and heavy bands recruit everything wrong): when form wobbles, the band lightens or the towel returns. The insurance pays on precision premiums; heavy sloppy payments bounce.

This plan was written for every 11 and 12 year old. ParentEdge writes one for yours.

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Common questions

What band should a young swimmer use?

The lightest available: the guard's muscles (rotators, blade squeezers) are small and precise, and heavy bands recruit big muscles into sloppy substitution. Light-and-perfect for years beats heavy-and-approximate immediately: a towel's isometric versions substitute fine where no band exists.

Why thoracic mobility for swimmers specifically?

The streamline rents its reach from the upper back, and teenage growth tightens exactly there first: stiff thoracic spines become shrugged, broken rockets and strained shoulders compensating. Weekly openers (threads, reach-throughs, wall slides as the exam) keep the rent paid.

How does this fit with team dryland programs?

As the home shadow: teams that run dryland get these movements reinforced; teams that don't get them supplied. The priorities are universal (guard, line, reach, ankles), light enough to add to any load, and the log keeps the weekly habit honest either way.

Dryland Training plans for other ages
Ages 7-8Ages 9-10Ages 13-15
More swimming plans for ages 11-12
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