Teams and facilities throughout North America work with Fitter & Faster to produce swim camps for their communities. We work with coaches, board members and/or other partners to best understand who the prospective participants are for each swim camp that we are asked to produce. From there we create world-class learning experiences with small session sizes.

Camps: A majority of Fitter & Faster swim camps are 2 to 3 days in a row.  Some camps during winter breaks or the summer are 5 or more days in a row.

Sessions: Each day of camp usually consists of 2 sessions. So, 2-day camps are typically 4 total sessions. The key for participants to improve and retain information is to cover a narrow set of topics at each session.

Participants: Most of the swim camps we design are for competitive swimmers between the ages of 10 and 18 with two or more years of organized competitive experience. We take into consideration the age, skill level and other factors to create the optimal “grouping of participants” and curriculum for each session. Some camps may have sessions for swimmers ages 10 to 12 and 13 & older. Other camps may have sessions specifically for high school age swimmers and other sessions for younger athletes. Some sessions may be designed based on other factors such as times in certain races. There are many ways to create appropriate groups – and we work hard to make the right decisions when creating the sessions! Participants are encouraged to sign up for all sessions for their age group. We also often provide the opportunity for participants to sign up for individual sessions within the camp.

Our swim camps are attended by swimmers who compete in the first few heats of local competitions all the way up to Junior National champions, age group record holders and swimmers who have gone on to swim at the NCAA Division 1 level and Olympic Trials. We have previous attendees who competed at the 2016 and 2020 Olympics. We also produce some camps for swimmers who are newer to the sport.

Below is a list of some of our most popular swim camp curriculums: 

1. Explosive Starts and Turns Camps

• Day 1: Dives, underwater dolphin kicking, Breakouts
• Day 2: Flip turns, open turns, finishes

2. “Comprehensive” Swim Camps: Each Comprehensive camp focuses on just one stroke or technique for the duration of the camp (usually 2 to 3 days).

Popular Comprehensive Swim Camps include:

• Explosive Starts, underwaters, breakouts
• Fast turns (flip, open, IM transitions), underwaters, breakouts & finishes
• High Performance Butterfly Technique and Racing
• High Performance Backstroke Technique and Racing
• High Performance Breaststroke Technique and Racing
• High Performance Freestyle Technique and Racing

Comprehensive Camp Summary:

• Day 1: Technique and drills (as appropriate for the participants of that session)
• Day 2: Applied speed; Distance per stroke; tempo; pacing; sprint versus distance variations
• Day 3 (if applicable): Implementation of race strategies

3. Long Axis Camps (Freestyle and Backstroke)

• Day 1 clinic: Freestyle skills, drills and tempo
• Day 2 clinic: Backstroke skills drills and tempo

4. Short Axis Camps (Butterfly and Breaststroke)

• Day 1 clinic: Butterfly skills, drills, tempo
• Day 2 clinic: Breaststroke skills, drills, tempo

5. Mixing of Topics. Teams often ask us to cover a variety of topics. For example, a team may ask us to produce one session for swimmers ages 13 & up that focuses exclusively on Underwaters and session that same age group that focuses on Freestyle Technique.   Then, for ages 12 & under that same team may ask us to do one session on Starts and another on the Essentials of Sprinting! There are many different combinations of topics we create with our partners.

• Underwaters
• Starts, underwaters and breakouts
• Turns (flip and open)
• Crossover turns (typically for 12 or 13 year-olds and above)
• Freestyle Technique
• Backstroke Technique
• Breaststroke Technique
• Butterfly Technique
• The Essentials of Sprinting
• Race Strategy & Execution for 1 particular distance such as 200’s in any stroke.  Or, the 500 freestyle.
• Dryland (Usually added on as a 5th session)

6. “Technique Academy”

• The “Technique Academy” consists of five individual clinic sessions over five days to improve ALL ASPECTS of participants’ racing
• Two clinic sessions each day for two sets of age groups (11 & under) and (12 and above)
• Session length: Sessions for swimmers ages 11 & under are usually 2-2.5 hours and the sessions for swimmers ages 12 and up are usually 3 hours.

7. Four to Six Session Racing Camp (usually held over two to four days). Popular options include:

• Starts & underwaters
• Freestyle technique
• Backstroke technique
• Breaststroke technique
• Butterfly technique
• Flip turns, open turns and finishes

8. Speed and Power Camp

This camp is recommended for swimmers ages 12 & up.

• Day 1 clinic: Power; Dynamic warmup; Improving power in stroke technique
• Day 2 clinic: Speed
  • Dryland for swimming
  • Maintain technique through fatigue
  • Speed training
  • Recovery (nutrition, sleep, recovery techniques)

9. Race Strategy Camps: Race Strategy Camps are quickly becoming one of our most popular. How many times have you asked your coach “how should I swim this race?” This camp seeks to help the participant answer that question by learning and applying different race strategies. Each session of each camp focuses on one specific race. These camps are less about a specific stroke and are more about the distance, mindset and execution of various strategies so that you will perform at a higher level. The most popular Race Strategy Camps across this USA are:

• The 100’s
• The 200’s
• The IM’s
• 500 Freestyle
• 50 Freestyle

10. Boot Camp & College Performance Training Camps

• Set your stroke up with drills for the first part of each session. Then, engage in a high intensity, dynamic training set specific to that particular camp’s focus.
• Swimmers are divided by sessions and lanes according to speed.

11. Elite Video filming and Analysis 

• Have your swimmers’ stroke professionally filmed SIMULTANEOUSLY at strategic angles below and above water! THEN, have your video analyzed with voice over and graphics on the actual video by an Elite Clinician or Olympic coach.

Additional “add-on” topics for any swim camp:

♦ Meet preparation
(Swim Blog: The Final 24 Hours before race time)

♦ Balancing School and Swimming
(Swim Blog: Student Athlete Balance)

♦ Mental Preparation
(Swim Blog: Developing the Self-sufficient Athlete)

♦ Sprinting and racing skills

♦ Nutrition
(Swim Blog: Fueling a Fitter and Faster Swimmer)
(Swim Blog: Recovery Nutrition)

♦ Sessions for swim parents
(Swim Blog: Being a Supportive Swim Parent)
(Swim Blog: Swim Family, The Vanderkaays)
(Swim Blog: Swim Parent Perspective: Wildman-Tobriner)