Building Practice Sets

Building Practice Sets

Build structured workout plans for your practices using phases (Warm-Up, Main Set, etc.) and individual sets. You can build plans manually or use the AI Coaching Assistant to generate them.

How Practice Plans Are Organized

Every practice plan follows a three-level hierarchy:

| Level | Description | Example | | -------- | --------------------------------------------- | -------------------- | | Practice | The parent activity with date, time, location | "Monday AM Practice" | | Phase | An ordered block within the practice | Warm-Up, Main Set | | Set | An individual swim or drill within a phase | 4x100 Freestyle |

A practice can have multiple phases, and each phase can have multiple sets. Phases are color-coded by type: blue for Warm-Up, purple for Pre-Set, red for Main Set, green for Cool-Down, and gray for Other.

Before You Start

Practice sets use team-level settings for Activity Types, Intensity Zones, and Equipment. To customize these options:

1. Go to Settings > Practice Settings
2. Configure the three tabs:
   • Activity Types — what athletes do (Swim, Kick, Pull, Drill, Sprint, etc.)
   • Intensity Zones — training zones with optional effort percentage ranges (Recovery, Aerobic, Threshold, etc.)
   • Equipment — gear items (Kickboard, Pull Buoy, Paddles, Fins, etc.)

HuddleSwim provides defaults for each, but you can add, edit, or remove them to match your team's terminology.

Building a Practice Plan Manually

Step 1: Navigate to Your Practice

1. Go to Activities and open an existing practice, or create a new one
2. Scroll down to the Practice Plan section

Step 2: Add a Phase

1. Click Add Phase
2. Select a Phase Type: Warm-Up, Pre-Set, Main Set, Cool-Down, or Other
3. Optionally add a Label (e.g., "Kick Set") and Note (instructions for the phase)
4. Click Add

The phase appears as a collapsible card. You can add as many phases as you need.

Step 3: Add Sets to a Phase

1. Click the + button on the phase header
2. Fill in any combination of fields:

| Field | Description | Example | | -------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- | --------------- | | Repeats | Number of repetitions | 4 | | Distance | Distance per repetition (yards/meters) | 100 | | Stroke | Freestyle, Backstroke, Breaststroke, Butterfly, Medley, IM, Choice, or Mixed | Freestyle | | Activity Type | Team-defined activity label | Kick | | Intensity Zone | Team-defined training zone | Threshold | | Interval Type | Send-off (leave on the clock) or Rest | Send-off | | Interval | Time in M:SS or seconds | 1:30 | | Effort | Build, Descend, Ascend, Negative Split, Even, or Fast | Build | | Equipment | One or more gear items | Kickboard, Fins | | Note | Free-text instructions | Focus on DPS |

1. Click Add

All fields are optional. A set can be as simple as a distance and stroke, or as detailed as you need.

Editing and Deleting

• Edit a set: Click on the set row to open the edit dialog
• Delete a set: Click the three-dot menu on the set row and select Delete
• Edit a phase: Click the pencil icon on the phase header
• Delete a phase: Click the trash icon on the phase header (this also removes all sets in the phase)

Copying the Shorthand

After adding sets, a Shorthand section appears below all phases. This is a compact text representation of the entire plan. Click Copy to copy it to your clipboard — useful for sharing via email, text, or printing.

Example shorthand output:

WARM-UP:
  600 Freestyle

MAIN SET:
  4x100 Freestyle @ 1:30 Build
  4x50 Butterfly Kick w/ :30 rest (kickboard)

COOL-DOWN:
  200 Choice

Using the AI Coaching Assistant

The AI Coaching Assistant can generate complete practice plans based on your instructions.

Note: The AI Coaching Assistant is being gradually rolled out and may not yet be available for your team.

Starting a Conversation

When the AI feature is available, you'll see an AI Coaching Assistant panel alongside the Practice Plan builder. Type a message describing what you want, for example:

• "Create a 3000 yard practice focused on threshold work"
• "Build a warm-up with 400 choice and some drill work"
• "Add a sprint set of 8x50 fly on 1:00"

Reviewing AI Proposals

When the AI suggests changes to your practice plan, it will show a proposal card summarizing the phases and sets it wants to create. You have two options:

• Apply Changes — writes the proposed plan to your practice
• Reject — declines the proposal so you can refine your request

The AI never modifies your practice plan without your explicit approval.

Tips for Better Results

• Be specific about yardage: "Create a 4000 yard practice" gives better results than "Create a practice"
• Mention the focus: "IM work", "distance freestyle", "sprint backstroke" help the AI tailor the plan
• Iterate: After applying a plan, ask follow-up questions like "Make the main set harder" or "Add a kick set before cool-down"
• Use your team's terminology: The AI is aware of your team's configured activity types, intensity zones, and equipment

Clearing the Conversation

Click the trash icon at the top of the chat to clear the conversation history and start fresh.

Tips

• Start with phases first: Add all your phase blocks (Warm-Up, Pre-Set, Main Set, Cool-Down) before filling in individual sets — it helps you visualize the overall practice structure
• Use the Note field: Add coaching cues or focus points to individual sets so athletes know what to concentrate on
• Recurring practices: Each occurrence of a recurring practice has its own independent plan — changing one does not affect others