What Does Choice Mean in a Swim Workout?

Is choice the same as freestyle or stroke?

No. USMS defines choice as picking the swimming stroke for that part of a set. In the same terminology guide, the standalone label “stroke” typically means anything other than freestyle, also called front crawl. That distinction matters: a choice swim can include freestyle; a non-freestyle instruction excludes it.

Read the surrounding words before deciding. “Choice, easy” and “choice, fast” give you the same freedom of swimming style but different effort instructions. If a coach uses a local convention, ask whether freestyle is allowed and whether you should hold one style throughout. For the other parts of a written session, use our swim workout reading guide.

How do you choose without changing the set purpose?

Start with the activity and effort, then choose a swimming style you can execute within those instructions. The following is an editorial decision sequence, rather than a rule that every coach uses.

Changing swimming style can change completion time. The USMS online-workout page uses different timing factors for choice, freestyle, drill and kick when estimating duration. Those are planning estimates, not personal pace targets. Our send-off versus rest explainer shows why a slower swim leaves less rest on a fixed send-off.

Can choice mean drill, kick or easy swimming?

Only when the rest of the instruction allows it. Treat plain choice as a choice of swimming style; do not silently replace a main swim with kick or drill. Ask the coach if the activity itself is meant to be flexible.

The USMS glossary describes cool-down as easy to moderate swimming following an intensive effort or race. For the relaxed example below, choice remains subordinate to the easy instruction; it is not an invitation to finish fast.

What does choice look like in a pool session?

This illustrative 600m session shows how the same label works in three phases. The distances, zones and rests are AquaPlan editorial examples, not a USMS prescription or a tested programme. It uses a 25m pool and assumes you can already complete these distances; change the unit explicitly for a yard pool.

Open it in the AquaPlan workout builder and replace the choice notes with your selected swimming styles before export. Keep the repeat distances and rests intact when adapting an imported session.

What should you log after a choice swim?

Record what you actually swam, plus the distance and timing. An illustrative note such as “main block: all six repeats freestyle, 20 seconds rest” is more useful for comparing future sessions than “choice.” If you alternated styles, record the order.

Check your watch or app history against that note rather than assuming its label captures every substitution. This article does not claim that any device identifies every drill or kick correctly. Save enough detail to distinguish a changed swimming style from a changed pace when you repeat the session.

Sources and editorial process

Sources checked October 7, 2026. USMS supplies the choice and non-freestyle terminology, workout timing context and cool-down definition. The decision sequence, logging advice and example session are editorial applications of those definitions. Limitations: coaches may use different shorthand; this guide is not individual coaching or first-hand testing, and timing estimates are not personal targets.

• U.S. Masters Swimming: Adult Swim Training — workout terminology
• U.S. Masters Swimming: Online Workouts — pace estimates
• U.S. Masters Swimming: Glossary of Swimming Terms

Automated editorial check (daily-ai-v1): this article was authored using AI and checked through an automated editorial process. No human expert review is claimed.