Anthony Nesty Shares Florida Gators’ Training Plans at Central States Clinic (Slides Included)

Anthony Nesty -- Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

Anthony Nesty Shares Florida Gators’ Training Plans at Central States Clinic

Over the weekend, University of Florida head coach Anthony Nesty gave presentations to fellow coaches at the 42nd Annual Central States Clinic in Chicago. In his talk, Nesty outlined his training plans for guiding both sprinters and distance swimmers, both groups which he has done a masterful job with during his six seasons at the helm of the Gators’ program (all of those seasons with the men’s team and the last three with the women as well).

In his presentations, Nesty discussed the athlete physiology that makes swimmers suited to be successful at the sprints and/or distance races and the unique approaches required to excel at each.

For sprints, Nesty described the process of building “White Fibers,” with a goal to “produce the largest amount of force possible both quickly & efficiently.” He discussed the different energy systems which must be trained, including aerobic (crucial for multi-day meets and multi-event days), anaerobic threshold, lactate tolerance and lactate production, while giving examples of each type of set.

Nesty listed the equipment needed for a sprinter’s “toolbox,” mentioning tempo trainers, VASA or tubing stations, surgical tubing, bands, fins, paddles, snorkel, parachutes and power towers. He also gave a list of sample sets from a week in his training plan.

For distance swimmers, Nesty also described an example week in his training program, showing how he balances speed work with endurance work. But here, Nesty introduced his talk with four questions swimmers must ask themselves before committing to distance events:

Do you enjoy the events: 800/1500; 1,000/1650?
Do you enjoy the grind = practice?
Do you have what it takes, in other words?
Do you have the distance mindset?

Nesty also discussed four distinct strategies for distance events, go out and hold on, go out and maintain, descending effort throughout and negative split, before delving into his approach for coaching the events.

Check out the slides from Nesty’s sprint presentation here and the slides from his distance presentation here.

Nesty, the 1988 Olympic gold medalist in the 100 butterfly while competing for Suriname, will be the head coach of the U.S. men’s Olympic team at this year’s Paris Games. Nesty is currently leading a large squad of swimmers favored to qualify for Paris, including 2021 individual gold medalists Katie Ledecky, Caeleb Dressel and Bobby Finke plus returning Olympians Kieran Smith, Bella Sims, Emma Weyant and Jake Mitchell. Recently, Florida’s women and men each finished third at their respective NCAA Championships.

More information on the Central States Clinic is available here.

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