Interesting article. I have been contemplating this, as I swim by myself and have no coach. How do you increase stroke rate? Get more fit? I can certainly increase my stroke rate, but it taxes my cardiovascular system. How about DPS? Get stronger? Better technique?

Last para was the money. As I was reading the article I was saying to myself "Yes, but what about efficiency?" The second thought I had was it demonstrates clearly why beginners increase their stroke rate to get faster (it's easier) than dps (technique).
Thanks for posting.

DPS increases come through several pathways that I can think of. Not in any particular order:

- streamlining, reduced resistance
- better catch and pull mechanics
- stroke timing adjustments (think catchup drill)
- increased kick propulsion

The first 2 almost always lead to better speed. Timing adjustments may or may not, as that will change stroke rate as well. Kick is very hard to get direct propulsion from (there are lots of benefits to a well timed kick for distance swimmers, but getting propulsion from the kick is more for the sprinters. Metabolically very costly.

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80 - 85 strokes per min

80 - 85 steps per min

80 - 85 cadence


Hmmm

Where are you inferring 80-85 strokes per minute from?

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I’ve seen that number quoted for some pros and tower 26

Do you think there is a good approximate number?

Or is it better to just let your own stroke rate happen?

As long as I have your ear. How do you swim at different speeds? Change stroke rate or change distance/stroke? Or both?

Thank you

I think that each individuals ideal stroke rate is going to be different, depending on their strengths / weaknesses / morphology.

My “ideal” distance swim stroke rate is somewhere around 60-65 SPM. I tend to be a 4 or 6 beat kicker and have a relatively weak pull compared to others who swim around the same speed as me. 6 beat kick generally means a longer dps and lower rate than a 2 beat kick.

As the article insinuates, my DPS doesn’t really change much for different swim speeds (technique driven) if anything DPS might go down a bit as speed goes up. To go faster, my stroke rate (effort level) goes up. That comes at a cost.

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The study was based on pool swimming, where the focus has traditionally been more on DPS.

In open water, I believe you will get more advantage focusing on SPM. But you want to do this with minimum impact to DPS.

When trying to increase SPM, it is common for an athlete to exit their hand early (shortening their stroke). We really want to avoid this. Instead I focus on eliminating the glide out front.

If you are drafting in Open Water, the water in front of you will be turbulent which compromises some of your catch. Therefore the glide (designed to maximise catch) is less effective. Once your hand gets closer to your body the turbulence is reduced (more purchase on the water), which is why it is important to push all the way through passed your hips.

Plus the glide works better in the controlled conditions of a pool. Not so well in rough open water where you are getting buffeted around.

What glide are you talking about? Good swimmers don’t have a glide.

Swim coaches I know have been focusing on DPS and rate fior a long time. But as the article says, DPS is harder to come by, so it takes more work to make progress on that front.

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How can you think catch up and not have a glide? I am probably thick now, but once your hand leaves the water, the only thing that generates propulsion is your kick, isn't it?

That’s a drill. If you watch video of really good swimmers in the pool in competition, there are guys who at first glance look like they glide but on analysis they don’t.

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Ok. What is the point of the drill? Not start your catch too early? And yes

Maybe I should have said "hand extension". In open water I try to dive my hand in early, without fully straightening my arm.

I see the catchup drill as an easier version of the one-arm drill. It allows you to focus on each arm's catch and pull individually (important for males who cannot focus on more than one thing at once).

Beginner and Intermediate swimmers often need fins to do the one-arm drill. Propulsion from the fins can hide deficiencies in the pull (ie. it becomes more a kick set with the arm assisting, rather than the focus being on the arm action). Catchup is easier to do without fins. So it puts more focus on each arm's catch and pull.

Hi @RobinOz. Rather than describing the "glide" as a hand extension I think of it more as a shoulder movement. The shoulder shrugs and closes the gap between the ear and the shoulder joint (markedly improving streamlining). The whole arm extends forward which has 2 effects. Firstly the catch can now start from a more distal position and secondly and more importantly the lats are stretched. A stretched muscle gives a much more powerful contraction. As Jason said from the pool deck it looks like the whole arm is just sitting there gliding but in actual fact it it is actively moving forward. I think whoever first described that phenomena as a "glide" has given lots of swimmers the wrong impression.

Yes I'm not very good explaining it using only words. Much easier when you can demonstrate what you mean using your arms.

Agree with the stretched muscle. I try to feel the stretch in my arm pit

In my n=1 experience i felt it helped to envision a big stretch/extension to help getting more streamlined by getting your body less flat and more like a keel of a boat instead of horizontal in the water.

Also good to see your description of the catch up, as that is how i have been using it. Trying to perfect the catch by doing it one at a time, slowing down the pause over time as the coordination of the movement gets better.

Without a partner how much do you all estimate for the wall push off? My garmin stroke rate numbers are quite low, but that reported value us just total strokes divided by total time. Either way, my low hanging fruit is my stroke rate, but i did slow mine down a bit from last season but gained dps so i am faster by about 3 to 5s per 100y.

Their comment "increased stroke rate + increased DPS = increased speed" and the concluding paragraph only reinforces to me (much same as the cadence debate on bike) you cannot *miraculously* suddenly operate deviations away from the the natural force-velocity contractile curve of your own given physiology (based on muscle mass, mitochondrial density, fibre typing).


So working to move the whole F-V left and up (or rather DPS & SPM) would make sense because you are always then ekk'ing gains whilst maintaining force production at the limit of your capacity at same time as limit of maintaining technical competency.

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David T-D
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I agree. You have to work on both DPS and SPM. That will get you the best result.

One way to do it is to do you warm up and cool down focusing on DPS. The rest of your training can be done based on SPM depending on the intensity of the set. If it's all-out you won't be focusing on DPS, its closer to MAX SPM. If it's Aerobic set you're doing then you will swim closer to the DPS you did during warm up. Race pace? somewhat in the middle depending on how efficient your are. This is something you should practice during training. To find out what is your race SPM try doing a threshold test. For example, 3x1000 or 3x800 will give you an idea of what will be your race SPM.

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Yawn...……..

Increasing stroke rate + DPS makes you faster......Shocker.


The only interesting thing, and not a surprise, is that its easier to train a increase in stroke rate than DPS.