Resources · Glossary
Swim Workout Abbreviations: What Does All This Stuff Mean?
Search or filter by category to decode any term you see in a written workout.
Workout Structure
WU
The easy swimming at the start of a workout that gets your body ready.
400 WU easyWorkout Structure
CD
Easy swimming at the end of a workout to bring your effort back down.
200 CD choiceWorkout Structure
Choice
Swim whatever stroke you want for that line.
4 x 50 choiceWorkout Structure
IM
One length or repeat of all four strokes in order: fly, back, breast, free.
4 x 100 IMEffort
EZ
Low, comfortable effort — well below race pace.
200 EZEffort
MOD
A medium effort, harder than easy but not pushing hard.
8 x 50 MODEffort
FAST
A strong, race-like effort.
4 x 25 FASTEffort
RPE
A 1–10 scale for how hard a swim feels, used instead of exact pace numbers.
RPE 7Effort
Aerobic
Steady effort you can sustain for a long time — the base of most training.
1000 aerobicEffort
Threshold
The effort right at the edge of what you can sustain — comfortably hard.
6 x 100 thresholdEffort
Sprint
All-out, maximum effort for a short distance.
8 x 25 sprintEffort
Recovery
Very light effort meant to help you recover, not to train hard.
100 recoveryIntervals
@
Marks the send-off — a new repeat starts every time this much time has passed.
8 x 50 @ 1:00Intervals
RI
A fixed rest time between repeats, instead of a send-off from the clock.
4 x 100 RI :20Intervals
Descend
Each repeat in the group gets faster than the one before it.
4 x 100 descend 1-4Intervals
Build
Within a single repeat, effort increases from start to finish.
1 x 200 buildIntervals
Negative Split
Swimming the second half of a repeat faster than the first half.
200 negative splitStrokes
FR
Front crawl — the default stroke unless another is specified.
200 FRStrokes
BK
Swum on your back.
100 BKStrokes
BR
The frog-kick stroke.
100 BRStrokes
FL
The two-arm, dolphin-kick stroke.
50 FLEquipment & Drills
Pull
Swimming with a pull buoy (and often paddles), legs mostly out of the work.
4 x 100 pullEquipment & Drills
Kick
Swimming with a kickboard or on your back, using legs only.
8 x 50 kickEquipment & Drills
Drill
A technique-focused swim that isolates one part of the stroke.
4 x 50 drillNo terms match that search.
Remember thisYou don't need to memorize this list. Bookmark it, and check back whenever a workout uses a term you don't recognize.
See these terms in a real workout.
Every generated set uses this exact vocabulary.
Generate My Workout