I'm down to 18 strokes on my best days, about 21 when I'm being lazy. Always slow.

not sure if this is the way it's "supposed" to be, but i definitely take more strokes per length the faster I try to go. at some point, to achieve speed, i would think you have to have a faster turnover.

Instead of number of strokes many should focus on diminishing Num of strokes+time for example 28 strokes per 50yds +35'' is 63
(golf score - as joel calls it at www.competitionzone.com)
I can do 8 strokes if I want. Good flip turn, dolphin kick under water, long glides, but I will be slower as I am not buoyant enough to swim like this.
currently, I will swim 17 strokes per 25yds. Yesterday swam 10x200 on 2'30'' (hitting under 2'20'' each time) and held 17 strokes all the way. if I lower to 16, I will be slower.

oh, I forgot, I am a giant too...5'7'' (without shoes)

Well I'm six inches and if it is the right movie it takes about...Oh wait! Your talking about swimming! Sorry.

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customerjon @gmail.com is where information happens.

I can swim 50 metres (short course) in about 45 seconds using a total of 40 strokes.

I'm swimming right under 1.00 on a 100 meter, 4.28 on 400 meter and 17.30 on 1500 meter. If i'm concentrating I'm using 13-14 on 25 meters, and in the races 17-20 strokes.!

Schmidt - DK

http://www.larsschmidt.dk

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Long Distance PB: 8:25
Instagram: larsschmidttri

Ken--are you sitting down? I'm going to agree with you! I am 49 y/o, 6'1", just swam a 57:82 for a 100 yd. free, and I hit 17-18 strokes/25 yds. when I am counting and trying to get a good "golf" score. I can only assume that when I am swimming the 50 or 100 in a race my stroke count is higher, but I am not sure because I don't have time to count.

It's not about stroke count. It's about efficiency and time. If I use more power and less strokes I will go faster but I will be dead on the bike and the run. If I use a higher stroke count I will have a higher heart rate in the swim which kills me later too. So I try to stay with the most efficient stroke I can. Power+Stroke= distance too much of one will lead to disaster later on. Find the optimum power and stroke count for the best results to get through the swim efficiently.

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"Define yourself by your discipline, dedication and determination and never stop until you are truly finished."

I have a very slow stroke compared to others (6.2", 175lbs). I take around 15 - 16 stokes. It doesn't really matter how fast I go unless I go really slow or really fast, like sprint. In both cases my stroke count goes up. Slow because it's inefficient and fast because I try hard. In theory your hand should be placed in the water and stay at the same spot for almost the whole stroke and your body should move over it forward. If you take faster strokes while doing so, you'll go faster. However, most of the time you won't because you are pushing water back instead of moving your body forward.

You go the fastest, when you have the highest repetition rate while still not moving water around, makes sense? Not good at explaining I guess.

But for me what's more important is, I swim an IM at the same repetition rate as I do my workouts. Which is slow and very relaxed. i usually swim around 55 minutes plus minus 2-3 minutes. And more important than that, I come out of the water very relaxed and I'm never anaerobic. Could I go faster with a higher cadence? sure! Would it lower my overall IM time? definitly not!

In normal practice (doing say 100s on the 1:30), I take between 11-13 strokes per 25 yards. When I'm sprinting though, I obviously take a lot more strokes. My 100 times were always right around 50 seconds flat.

25 yard pool.

In HS with PRs of 4:56 in the 500, 1:53 in the 200 about 18 per length.

Now, with a 200 time of sub 2 and triathlon 1500m swims in the 18:30-19:00 range my stroke counts are 12 or so with easy swimming around 1:15-1:20 per 100 and 14-15 at a pace around 1:05 +/- per 100.

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Brandon Marsh - Website | @BrandonMarshTX | RokaSports | 1stEndurance | ATC Bikeshop |

Geranimo wrote: If I use more power and less strokes I will go faster but I will be dead on the bike and the run. If I use a higher stroke count I will have a higher heart rate in the swim which kills me later too.

I can see how this would be true for, perhaps, an Ironman distance. But, for half-ironman and under, I don't care how high my HR gets in the water...the quicker I get out, the faster my overall time. Getting some lactic acid in my bloodstream due to working my upper body doesn't slow my legs down....I really think this is an "old wives tale" kind of thinking. At the very least, it doesn't apply to my racing results. Again, I'm not racing an Iron distance.


To answer the actual question...in a 25 yard pool, I use 10 left arm, 11 right arm, or vice-versa. All while swimming at a 1:30 100 yd pace. Pretty pitiful, huh? I'm trying a master's swimming class, though, this week. Hopefully, I'll learn something...it seems like I'd HAVE to learn something as bad as I am now!

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Quid quid latine dictum sit altum videtur
(That which is said in Latin sounds profound)

I wouldn't worry much about stroke count either. I'm typically between 11 and 15 strokes for 25 yards. I move pretty quickly for a relaxed stroke rate (warmup) but when it comes to racing or higher intensity efforts, I just can't increase my speed. Everybody blows me away. I'm really damn slow in races and couldn't touch 1:00 / 100.

During warmup I do like crusing by swimmers that are otherwise much faster than me. Too bad that doesn't count for anything.

I'm usually around 17 in a 25 yard pool.

And there really isn't some absolute magic number, even among the elite. Of the swimmers who made the finals of the US Olympic trials in the 400M free in 200, the men ranged from 33 to 42 strokes per 50 (long course meters) and the women were between 38 and 53 per long course 50 meters.

It's all a matter of figuring out what works best for each individual.

25 yard pool, open turns, 5'10", about 16-17 strokes per length going hard, just over 1:00 for 100. easy, 13-15 strokes, 1:15-1:20.

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f/k/a mclamb6

For people who ask this question, I always want to ask, in a 25 yard pool with a push off? If you are flip turning, and pushing off well, that cuts that pool by 1/4th. How are you figuring in the push off in a 25 yard pool. Also, on what lap? I'd bet, late in the workout session, you are doing 2-5 more per lap, because you get tired.

I normally would do 16, 16, 16, 17, 17, 17, per yards. If I try to "glide" and am conscious of trying to increase stroke rate, I could probably do a 14 or 15, but I'd pay a price for it. I have to kick harder on my side, in that small second during recovery. And I really have to pop my hips like a corkscrew to get that push forward. To me, gliding wear's out your legs, hips, and lats. And I'm not going any faster. I lose momentum. I don't want to get into a flame war about TI stuff here, but it's a lot harder on the muscles than you think. I am dead tired trying to reach, roll the hips, and glide.

They say, that's what you want to rely on, the back and hips, to increase you glide and stroke rate, but I'm a damned egg beater.

Umm, when fit, about 12-14 per 25m, at a 1:10-1:15 pace.

The whole swimming thing is new to me this year, but when I set out to do it, I read everything I could. The things that made the most difference was learning to use my core muscles to swim, gliding, and reducing my stroke count. I went from 25-27 per 25yds to 15-18, I would like to get to 15 consistently. What made the most difference though was getting my core to work in my stroke, it made my back sore and still does on long swims but, man what a power and efficiency difference.

Jim S


P.S. No flip turn (I never learned how) and just enough push off the wall to get me going in the right direction.

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Jim

**Note above poster works for a retailer selling bikes and related gear*

Yeah...I'm gonna have to go ahead and agree with you on this one.... As for swimming, the name of the game is efficiency! Any healthy human being who tries hard enough can make it across a 25 yrd pool in 5-10 strokes. It's all relative to your style of swimming. I promise you Gary Hall takes a few more strokes per lap then Ian Thorpe, but they are both highly efficient with their type of arm pull. Whether it's a high cadence or distance per stroke technique, you should always do what's most efficient for your style of swimming.

One thing I've noticed with people who always train distance per stroke is they lose their ability to sprint.(Truly sprint....to forget where you're at in the practice, bite your lip, throw down, give it all you've got, balls against the wall, SPRINT!) At some point, to go fast you have to stop counting arms pulls and breaths, clear your mind, and just turn your arms over as fast as you possibly can. (you know...like you did when you were a kid playing sharks and minnows)

Golf score is what counts. I swim in a crappy 25yd pool, at the end of a tough workout, the best I'll get is a golf score of 69-70. I think my best ever is in the low 60s with an average around 65.

For speed reference, I swim 1000yds in around 14:45 in the same 25yd pool. In the 1000yd time trial, I'll start at around 16 strokes per length and by the end I'm getting close to 19 strokes, but of course I'm sprinting at the end.

See, this is why I don't talk about swimming ... I didn't know you were supposed to count that ... or track your time for that matter :)