Swim Squad: Building Our Aerobic Power

Swim Squad: Building Our Aerobic Power

Following on from our previous post about adding some speed work to our swim this winter, we are looking at another type of fast swimming: VO2 Max.

What is VO2 Max?

VO2 max is your maximum rate of oxygen use – the upper limit of how much oxygen your body can take in, transport, and use during intense exercise.

In swimming terms, it’s the point where you’re swimming as hard as you can sustain for a few minutes, breathing heavily, heart rate near max, stroke just starting to tighten.

It sits between the short, pure-speed alactic work and the steadier threshold training – it’s controlled chaos, and that’s exactly why it’s valuable.

What Are We Trying To Improve?

When we train at VO2 max pace, we’re aiming to:

• Expand your aerobic engine – improving the heart, lungs, and muscles’ ability to use oxygen efficiently.
• Raise your ceiling – a higher VO2 max means all your other paces (threshold, endurance, even recovery) can shift upward.
• Develop fatigue resistance at speed – learning to hold technique and pace even when the effort feels near maximal.

Why Do It?

Because it’s one of the most time-efficient ways to build aerobic fitness and swim-specific stamina. VO2 max work pushes both your cardiovascular system and your muscular endurance at once.

You won’t do a huge volume of it, but these sessions deliver a lot of adaptation in a short time.

What Might Our Sessions Look Like?

VO2 max sets usually involve repeated short to mid-distance efforts (50 – 200m) with incomplete recovery – enough rest to go hard again, but not fully recharge.

A few examples you might see in our squad sessions:

• Clusters: 4 × 50m at VO2 max pace, Short rest (15-20s) between 50s, then 2 – 3 min easy recovery before the next cluster.
• 1:1 Work:Rest Sets: 5 × 100m at VO2 max pace, with equal rest time to your swim time.
• Broken Efforts: 3 × (100 + 50) where the 100m is strong and the 50m is maximal.

Each variation keeps you near your limit for a few minutes – the sweet spot for improving VO2 max – while protecting technique and form.

The Takeaway

VO2 max training sits right in the middle of your performance pyramid – it connects your speed to your endurance.

Do it well, and you’ll find that your threshold pace feels easier, and your sprint efforts last longer before you fade.

Podcast

Here is an AI generated podcast, based on our article above, giving a more bit more context and simplifying a few things too.

Coming Up Next …

Next article is all about threshold swimming, and how we’re complementing our fast work with this type of swimming.