Quantity vs. Quality - Which is the Right Training Approach?

The Often Misunderstood Path to Swim Training Success

Hey Swimmers,

You can all listen to this week’s blog like a podcast if you prefer using the play button above as a bit of a Black Friday treat, plus, we’ve got a very special launch coming up over the weekend as we bring the Swim Smooth GURU and our patented Stroke Insights properly onto your Garmin devices - what a way to celebrate this thanks giving weekend and our 20th anniversary - stay tuned to your email for further updates as we work vigorously behind the scenes to bring this to you!

So, onto this week’s blog…

The debate of quantity vs. quality in swim training is a familiar one, with many athletes eagerly championing the idea that focusing on quality over quantity is the smarter, more effective path. On the surface, this makes sense—why waste time on endless “garbage yardage” when you can train smarter instead of harder? However, the reality is that this concept is often misunderstood. Many swimmers reduce their training volume, believing they are prioritizing quality, but without specificity and measurable goals, they’re simply doing less—and not necessarily better.

Let’s explore why this matters and how you can strike the right balance between quality and quantity for real results.

The Knowledge Gap: Do You Really Know Your Metrics?

To train with true quality, you need to know your numbers. For swimmers, this means understanding and tracking your Critical Swim Speed (CSS). It’s surprising how often I encounter elite and professional athletes who can rattle off their FTP (Functional Threshold Power) for the bike or run but draw a blank when asked about their swimming CSS.

If you don’t know your CSS or haven’t tested it recently, how can you design or follow sessions that truly challenge you? Without this metric, it’s impossible to gauge whether your training is focused or effective. Tools like the Finis Tempo Trainer PRO can help you dial in precise pacing and track improvement. Without them, you risk coasting through workouts under the illusion of training smarter.

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Real Life, Real Limits: Making Every Session Count

Most of us can’t dedicate 50+ kilometers a week to swim training. Jobs, families, and life commitments make that impossible. But a reduced volume doesn’t mean reduced effectiveness—if you plan correctly. By focusing on purposeful, measurable training sessions, you can maximize limited time and still achieve impressive results.

Take my recent 3rd place finish at the 20km GeoBay Swim. At 46 years old, I was competing against swimmers two decades younger and training at much higher volumes. My weekly training load was just 15-20 kilometers, yet I improved my time by 56 minutes compared to the previous year. Why? Because every session was designed with a clear purpose, from endurance-building sets to open-water pacing practice based on my CSS.

However, this doesn’t mean my training was flawless. The final 5 kilometers of the race revealed a weakness in endurance that I’ll address before the Rottnest Solo Swim by refining my session plans further.

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Specificity Matters: Lessons from Cold Water Adaptation

The importance of specificity in training goes far beyond pool workouts. When preparing for the 46km Manhattan Island Swim in 2013, I knew the water temperatures in the East, Harlem, and Hudson Rivers would be unusually cold—around 14°C. With two young children at home and a limited training budget, I couldn’t afford to log the 120 kilometers per week that some of my competitors were swimming. Instead, I focused on a specific, purposeful plan, averaging 37 kilometers per week and dedicating time to acclimatizing to the cold.

This didn’t mean plunging into ice baths or sleeping naked with the windows open, as some would suggest. Those approaches, while dramatic, don’t replicate the sustained stress of swimming in cold water for hours at a time. Instead, I spent three weeks in Canada with my wife’s family, hiring a car to access lakes where I could swim daily in water temperatures similar to the race conditions. The goal wasn’t to subject myself to unnecessary discomfort but to build resilience and adaptation in a controlled, relevant environment.

This principle applies across all aspects of training: context matters. Whether it’s cold water adaptation, pacing practice, or technique refinement, your training needs to mimic the demands of your event. Anything else—no matter how difficult it feels—isn’t truly “quality” training.

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Fatigue Stacking: My Secret to High-Impact Training

In recent years, I’ve adjusted my training approach to simulate the benefits of higher-volume training while maintaining a manageable weekly load. One of my favorite strategies is fatigue stacking: placing harder sessions back-to-back to create a cumulative fatigue effect that pushes my resilience and fitness to new levels.

For example, I’ll do a hard 5km Red Mist session on Saturday, follow it with a long endurance swim of 6-10km on Sunday, and cap it off with my favorite 10 x 400m session on Monday morning. By the time I hit the Monday session, I’m tired, stiff, and far from fresh—but pushing through and staying close to my target paces builds both physical and mental toughness. This strategy mimics some of the effects of higher volume training while fitting within a realistic schedule.

Interestingly, we employ a similar approach in Swim Smooth Squads around the world, with harder sessions typically stacked later in the week, from Wednesday to Friday. This structured fatigue forces swimmers to develop resilience and manage their pacing, which is critical for both open water racing and long-distance events.

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Final Thoughts: Trust the Process

Deep in Thought: the final minutes before my successful 1st place at the Manhattan Island Marathon Swim in 2013

The quality vs. quantity debate is not about choosing one over the other but about finding the right balance for your goals and life circumstances. Quality must be measurable, specific, and purposeful—whether that means tracking your CSS, tailoring sessions to event conditions, or strategically stacking fatigue to push your limits.

This debate came into sharp focus during the first few weeks of our Rottnest Solo Training Program. Now into week 8 of the 20-week plan, many swimmers contacted me early on, concerned that the training quantity I’d prescribed wasn’t enough. But when you look at what we aim to achieve in the first 4-6 weeks—technique development and CSS identification—the approach becomes clear:

The significant ramp-up in volume starts from the end of November, timed so that swimmers are fresh and ready for the challenge. By avoiding early burnout, we ensure that you hit January feeling strong and motivated, not wishing the race was over.

This approach embodies the balance of quality and quantity. Trust the process, focus on the early foundations, and embrace the ramp-up when it arrives. Combined with strategies like fatigue stacking, this structure allows even busy athletes to develop resilience and fitness that rivals higher-volume programs.

So, the question isn’t quality vs. quantity. It’s how to use both, wisely and intentionally, to achieve results you can be proud of.

Until next week!

Your Coach, Paul.