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For Swimmers

Getting started as a swimmer

Your coach put your team on Beyond the Blocks. Here's how to join, what you'll see every day, and how your times turn into a season you can look back on.

About 10 minutes

This is where your coach's workouts show up, where every time you swim is kept, and where you can see yourself getting faster against the standards for your age group.

Your first 10 minutes

In order. Pause and come back any time.

  1. 01

    Get the invite code or the email from your coach

    Your coach either gives the team a six-character invite code (something like NLVB40) or sends you an invite email from team@beyondtheblocks.io. Either one works. If you can't find the email, check spam, or just ask for the code.

  2. 02

    Sign up at beyondtheblocks.io and pick 'I swim on a team'

    Enter your email and a password, then type the invite code. The screen shows the team you're about to join before you go any further, so you can't land on the wrong one.

    You'll know it worked when

    You see 'Joining Team · <your club>' at the top of the profile step.

  3. 03

    Fill in your name, birthday, and gender

    Your birthday is required. It picks the right age group for your qualifying standards and keeps you in the correct group at meets. You need to be 13 or older to have your own login; under 13, a parent sets it up and follows along for you.

  4. 04

    Add your USA Swimming ID if you have one

    It's on your USA Swimming card and in Deck Pass. It's optional, but worth it: when your coach uploads a meet's results file, your swims attach to your account automatically instead of by matching your name. You can add it later in Settings too.

  5. 05

    Open the Train tab

    Today's practice is there if your coach has pushed one. Tap a workout's title bar to open it and see every set: distance, reps, interval, stroke, and how hard. On a morning-and-afternoon day you'll see two bars and open the one you're at.

    You'll know it worked when

    You can see this week's days across the top and today's workout underneath.

  6. 06

    Invite a parent

    In Settings, invite a parent or guardian by email. They get a free account that shows your schedule, your own times from practice, meet results, and anything that needs their approval. They don't see your chats with the AI coach.

    You'll know it worked when

    Your parent's email shows as pending until they accept.

What each part does

Train: today's workout and your rep times

Every set is listed with its interval and a place to enter your time for each rep. If your coach timed you on deck, those times are already there. Tap 'Finish workout' at the end to log how it felt. The week view lets you look back at what you did and ahead at what's coming.

Meets: entries and predicted times

When a meet is coming up, tap 'Pick my events' to choose your races. For each one you get a projected time on a bar: your current best on the left, your goal on the right, and a swimmer showing where the projection lands. Under it is a plain-language line on how the number was built and how much data it rests on.

How to read a prediction

Me: bests, goals, and the progression chart

Personal bests, goals, and achievements sit at the top. The Time Progression chart plots every meet swim in an event, and the Qualifying Standards toggle draws the B through AAAA lines for your age group. About to age up? Pick the next age group from the dropdown to see what's coming.

Using the standards overlay

Practice times, folded away

At the bottom of Me, every practice session you've been timed in sits behind one bar so the page stays short. Open it to see each session and its best rep. Those times are what your predictions are built from.

Coach BTB

The chat bubble is an AI assistant coach for swimming questions: training, race strategy, sleep, nutrition. Swimmers on a Club team get it included. It stays in its lane; it won't do your homework, and if you're going through something hard it will point you to a real person.

Your public profile

A link you can send to grandparents or a college coach. They see your bests and meet results without an account. Swimmers under 13 are never public unless a parent turns it on.

How public profiles work

Common questions

Related guides