There appears to be a lot of debate regarding whether a long long swim stroke is better than a faster stroke rate. I have spent the last year working on reducing the number of strokes per minute in the hopes of becoming a faster more efficient swimmer (ala Total Immersion). While I have been able to reduce my stroke rate, I have not realized any significant improvements in my speed. At a recent race, the announcer indicated that the two lead swimmers were averaging 90 strokes/minute. This got me thinking that perhaps I was taking the wrong approach. I was at a cottage this past weekend so took the opportunity of being in open water to do some experimentation. I measured the time it took for 250 strokes (right and left arms) using my gliding but relatively slow stroke rate. I repeated this process but made a conscious effort to increase my stroke rate. The first trial took 270s (or 55.6 strokes/minute) and the second trial took 230 seconds (or 65.3 strokes/minute). What was really interesting, however, is that I travelled approximately the same distance in both trials. This suggests that with my slower stroke rate I must be losing momentum between each stroke which is not as significant as with the faster stroke rate. While I cannot imagine being able to swim 90 strokes/minute with good form and for any significant distance, I do think that I am going to begin working on increasing my stroke rate to try to get in the 75-80 stroker/minute range.
It’s good to experiment with both cadence and stroke length because every person is going to have slightly to somewhat different optimals numbers for both of those.
The key with upping cadence/stroke rate is to focus on doing so because you’re cutting out any pauses and reducing the glide, and to make sure you’re not getting your arms moving faster because you’re letting your grip on the water slip.
Every time I see a swimming question post, I think of Doug Stern and hope that his family is coping as well as can be expected…
there is no wrong or right answer to this question. If you are a slow turnover person you need to develop the ability to have a faster stroke rate to call upon. Slower does not mean better and faster does not mean better.
me too. i continue to be a student of swimming, and just yesterday was making copies of doug’s words of wisdom…he continues to teach.
somewhat like running candence, there is more than one element here.
to see any benefit from an improved stroke rate, you need to have the strength and endurance to support it. If you don’t, you will just cheat your stroke and not net anything out (somewhat like you saw).
secondly, you’ve trained yourself at one rate, so expect moving into a faster rate is going to take a ton of time.
improvement in form is the quickest and easiest means to improve speed. TI is not meant for speed. TI is meant for efficiency. So you’ve reduced your count and kept your speed, assuming you are a decent swimmer, it sounds like you got exactly what you set out for (although not quite what you wanted!). TI is all about balance and efficiency which FOR BAD SWIMMERS means speed. There is a limit though, and for racing TI won’t cut it. It’s just a “Start”.
so if you now start to focus on improving your stroke rate while HOLDING your form, you should see a speed improvement. This will come primarily from strength, so lots of pull drills in your future…
In Reply ToWhile I have been able to reduce my stroke rate, I have not realized any significant improvements in my speed.
Congratulations! You’ve succeeded!
You’ve reduced your stroke rate WHICH REDUCES YOUR ENERGY OUTPUT without hindering your speed.
Now that you’ve got your aerobic engine purring, you can work on pushing up your LT in the water - increasing stroke rate, increasing heart rate, increasing speed. Of course, all will come with an energy cost. Might be worth it for an Olympic Tri.
But for long course, my preference is to come out of the water as fresh as possible. I need every ounce of energy I can get for the bike & run.
Later!
Brian
I love these threads, which all can be paraphrased thusly:
“I rigidly and dogmatically follow some swim technique theory that was orignally developed as one small aspect of how an olympic hopeful might try to eek out another half second in a 400 meter race. One day I decided to do an experiment and I swam a test swim ignoring the theory and just trying to go fast. I went way faster. Now all I have to do is figure out how to swim that fast using the techinque I was using before and I’ll be OK.”
I have definitely become more efficient over the past year. The slow stroke rate means that I invariably leave the water feeling fresh irregardless of the length of the swim. At this point, however, I am looking to increase speed, and I believe that this will only come by increasing my stroke rate. I just watched a re-run of the recent ITU Championships in Vancouver and noted that virtually all of the swimmers were at a stroke rate of at least 75 spm. It is probably too late to start tinkering with my stroke rate for the rest of this race season, but come October I am going to concentrate on increasing my stroke rate while ensuring that I maintain good form. I know this is going to be very difficult at first, but hopefully by next years race season I will have become comfortable with a faster stroke rate.
Scott,
Sounds like a good plan! Might I also suggest that you work on progressively tightening (reducing) your rest breaks, both within & between sets (doesn’t take much). You’re going to be hating the training, but you’ll kick a lot of ass come race day! Best of luck to you!
Take care,
Brian
Brian,
Thank you for the suggestions. I will be sure to incorporate them. I am planning to switch up sets using my current stroke rate including some work with paddles or pull buoys, with sets using a faster stroke rate, always working towards increasing the proportion of time spent using the faster stroke rate.