As we lead in the competitions, one of the things we focus on is stroke count and distance per stroke.
How We Use It Training
We’ll typically swim an easy and relaxed 50m, counting how many strokes we take for the lap. Then we’ll go a set of 10-20 100’s with 20 seconds rest in between. What we are aiming to do here is hold the exact same amount of strokes for every single lap that we do.
You’ll have to do the same amount of kicks off each wall so that you can make each lap exactly the same.You’ll likely find that half-way through your set, you’ll start to fatigue and it will become harder to hold the same stroke count.
If you can maintain your distance per stroke in a race by maintaining a good catch with power out the front, it’s a key component of fast swimming.
If you’re racing competitions in the pool, the best way to judge this is with your stoke count. If you’ve still got that same hold of the water then you can maintain your speed towards the end of the race and you’ll find that your 50’s and 100’s in particular will be fast.
But What About Stroke Rate?
We’ve talked about stroke rate in some of the past videos. Stroke rate is also important and this is the other side of the equation – your distance per stroke. You practice holding the same distance per stroke with the set like 10 to 20 100’s where you are counting your strokes every single lap.
John Only Takes 30 Strokes A Lap And I Take 45…Does Mean I’m Crap?
One of the things to keep in mind is that everyone’s stroke count will be different. It doesn’t matter if the person next to you is going 30 strokes a lap and you are going 45 strokes a lap. It’s individual to the swimmer. It depends on your technique, your size, your build, your strength.
Don’t worry about what other people are doing. Do what’s good for you. Maintain the minimum amount of strokes per lap and then you can build on that.
It’s important to go for the minimum amount of strokes when you are swimming relaxed but do not break your stroke rhythm. You don’t want to stretch out too much where you are gliding and pausing with each stroke.
The Next Step
There’s a lot more you can do to increase your speed, Effortless Swimming Membership Program is our online coaching program where we cover a much wider range of topics including technique, training and workouts so you can put all of the pieces together become a faster well-rounded swimmer.
Transcript
Read the full transcript
Hi Brenton Ford here, welcome to another Effortless Swing.com update where swimming fast is easy. This week we’re looking at improving your 50s, 100s, 200s and 400s. As we lead into competition, one of the things that we focus on is stroke count and distance per stroke. So what we’ll do is we’ll go an easy, relaxed, comfortable 50 where we can in how many strokes it takes us to finish the lat. Then we’ll go a set of between 10 and 2100s with about 20 seconds resting between and what we’re aiming to do here is to hold the exact same amount of strokes for every single lap that we do. Now that means that you’ll have to go the same amount of kicks off each wall so that you can make each lap exactly the same. And what you’ll find is about halfway through the set, you’ll start to fatigue and it will become harder to hold the same stroke count. And the reason we want to hold the same stroke count each lap is because if you
can maintain your distance per stroke in a race, if you can maintain that good catch, that powerful feeling out the front throughout your race and then towards the end of your race, you don’t want to be spinning your wheels. So if you’ve still got that same hold of the water, then you can maintain your speed towards the end of a race. And you’ll find that your 50s and 100s in particular will be fast if you can hold the same distance per stroke with your ideal stroke rate. Now I’ve talked about stroke rate in some of the past videos and stroke rate is also important and this is the other side of the equation is your distance per stroke and you practice holding good distance per stroke with a set like 10 to 2100s where you’re counting your strokes every single lap. One of the things to keep in mind is that everyone’s stroke count will be different. It doesn’t matter if the person next year is going 30 strokes a lap and you’re
going 45 strokes a lap, it’s individual to the swimmer. It depends on your technique, your size, your build, your strength. So don’t worry about what other people are doing. Do what’s good for you, maintain the minimum amount of strokes per lap and then you can build on that. It’s important to go for the minimum amount of strokes when you’re swimming relaxed, but to not break your stroke rhythm. So you don’t want to try and stretch out too much where you’re gliding every single stroke. Keep your normal stroke rhythm, but just swim relaxed and then you can try and maintain that for the set. The swimmers that we do this with find that it really helps their 50s and 100s, particularly their 200s, because if you’re maintaining the same distance per stroke throughout a race and you’re not shortening up and spinning your wheels as you get through it and you start to fatigue, then you can start to maintain your speed throughout an entire race
and you can have a good powerful stroke and it really improves your speed. So stroke count is really good to do, slow, relaxed swimming. It’s controlled, you’re thinking about your technique. That is how you get faster for your pool competitions. Of course, there’s a lot more you can do to increase your speed. If you go to swimproof.com, which is our online coaching program, you’ll find a number of things that we talk about for technique, for training, for workouts, so that you can put all the pieces together and you can be a well-rounded swimmer. And you can take care of all those little 1%ers that add up to faster swimming. That’s it for your effortless swimming update this week. I’ll see you next week.
She’s swimming with a straight arm isn’t she Brenton?
Underwater she pulls quite straight but because she’s a sprinter it works well for her.