- Conditioning for kids
- Swimming, 11 to 13 year olds
Swimming conditioning for 11 to 13 year olds
Swimming conditioning for 11 to 13 year olds at home means endurance, speed and streamline & breakouts through 12 drills picked for the age. At 11 to 13, conditioning can build: a session may run to 45 minutes at 11 and 60 at 12 and 13, on up to 5 days, with rest days between. Why: Organized sport should total no more hours a week than the child's age in years, with two rest days a week (NATA youth sport specialization recommendations).
For parents and coaches: the physical drills that work at home for 11 to 13 year olds, one session to follow and the load rules the app applies to the age group.
By Coach Evan Waechtler Youth coach (U11, Cache Valley, Utah) and founder of SSTracker Updated November 5, 2026
A parent's page. Free to read; no card to start; running a team is always free.
At a glance
- The drills
- 12 physical-focus swimming drills work at home for 11 to 13 year olds, 11 of them swimming's own. 3 of them are jump, bound or sprint drills, which a plan limits.
- How it is built
- At 11 to 13, conditioning can build: a session may run to 45 minutes at 11 and 60 at 12 and 13, on up to 5 days, with rest days between.
- Load rules
- Still at most one jump, bound or sprint drill in a plan, so the legs have a day to recover. Box jumps and depth jumps wait until 14, and loaded lifting is not in an at-home plan.
- What you need
- Most used: mat (4 of the 12 drills), resistance band (2), bench or sturdy step (1), flat surface (1), jump rope (1), tape or chalk line (1), wall (1). 1 drill needs nothing but space.
swimming's own
Swimming conditioning drills for 11 to 13 year olds
These drills build the body for swimming itself: endurance, speed and streamline & breakouts. Every one is open to 11 to 13 year olds by the app's age gates and works at home with one parent.
endurance
Endurance
speed
Speed
streamline & breakouts
Streamline & Breakouts
Every sport
Athletic drills swimming players share
Speed, balance and control carry across sports. These athletic drills are the same for every sport, picked from the ones open to 11 to 13 year olds.
endurance
Endurance
A 26-minute session
A conditioning session for 11 to 13 year olds
A warm-up, 1 drill and a cool-down: 26 minutes. Still at most one jump, bound or sprint drill in a plan, so the legs have a day to recover.
- 1Swimming Warm-Up, Ages 11 to 13A 10-minute moving warm-up for swimming players aged 11 to 13: running, moving stretches, plank, balance, landings and build-up runs, then swimming moves, with a note on growth spurts.10 min
- 2Dryland CoreBrace your belly, breathe.10 min
- 3Swimming Cool-Down Stretches, Ages 11 to 13A 6-minute cool-down for swimming players aged 11 to 13 after training: stretches for the legs, hips, arms and chest, each held 15 to 20 seconds, never to pain, with growth-spurt notes.6 min
Healthy load
How much swimming conditioning is healthy for 11 to 13 year olds
At 11 to 13, conditioning can build: a session may run to 45 minutes at 11 and 60 at 12 and 13, on up to 5 days, with rest days between.
Still at most one jump, bound or sprint drill in a plan, so the legs have a day to recover.
Box jumps and depth jumps wait until 14, and loaded lifting is not in an at-home plan.
Organized sport should total no more hours a week than the child's age in years, with two rest days a week. (NATA youth sport specialization recommendations).
The research behind it
Ages 6 to 12 are the "sampling years": high play, low deliberate practice.
Côté and Vierimaa 2014Organized sport should total no more hours a week than the child's age in years, with two rest days a week.
NATA youth sport specialization recommendations
Questions and answers
What is swimming conditioning for 11 to 13 year olds?
At 11 to 13, conditioning can build: a session may run to 45 minutes at 11 and 60 at 12 and 13, on up to 5 days, with rest days between. The 12 drills below are physical-focus swimming drills that work at home.
What swimming conditioning drills can 11 to 13 year olds do at home?
A few to start with: Band Shoulder Strength, Dryland Core and Hollow Holds and Rocks. Most used: mat (4 of the 12 drills), resistance band (2), bench or sturdy step (1), flat surface (1), jump rope (1), tape or chalk line (1), wall (1). 1 drill needs nothing but space.