Swim Tip: Stroke Rate
Go to any open water swim and watch the people in the water. Watch the stroke rate of the swimmers. Notice anything? From my experience, you will usually notice that most swimmers have really slow arm turnover.
Without counting or actually checking their stroke rate, I wouldn’t be surprised to see it in the 50-55 strokes per minute range.
Now watch one of the quicker swimmers in the water. Compare their stroke rate to most of the other swimmers. You will notice a difference in arm speed.
Next time you get in the water, think about your own stroke rate and speed of your arm turnover. How does it feel? Can you speed it up slightly?
How To Speed Up Stroke Rate
If I was watching you swim and advising on stroke rate, I would look for:
- Fast hands into the water
- Quick recovery
- Maintaining long, effective stroke
Fast Hands
‘Fast hands’ into the water. Don’t look to place hands perfectly in the water. Be a bit more assertive with your hand entry. A bit of splash in open water is ok. If you are too deliberate with your hands, your whole stroke slows down. Get your hands into the water and extend forwards quickly. The quicker you do that, the sooner you’ll be able to take your next stroke and propel yourself through the water.
Speed Up Recovery
Quick Recovery. Another way to speed up your stroke rate is by speeding up your recovery. Don’t dawdle. One you’ve finished your stroke, bring it over the top of the water and then back into the water quickly. Again, a slow recovery equals a slow stroke rate.
Keep Your Strokes Long
Maintaining Long, Effective Stroke. In saying this, I would be looking to see you maintain a long and powerful underwater stroke. Don’t sacrifice your stroke length for stroke speed. You still want that good pull under water. Don’t rush the underwater pull phase. Most swimmers don’t want a short, choppy, inefficient stroke – so keep this bit of your stroke long and powerful.
Measuring & Changing Stroke Rate
A good way of checking your stroke rate – and then speeding it up if necessary – is to use a Finis tempo trainer. Use the tempo trainer to check what your current stroke rate is – and then increase the tempo slightly (from 55 strokes per minute to 60 spm for example) and then try to keep pace with the new beep rate.
If you are swimming a lapped course, you could time yourself swimming your normal 55 strokes per minute, and then your new 60 strokes per minute, and check the difference in speed.
Why Bother?
Why is all of this important? If you cover one metre per stroke, and you take 50 strokes per minute, then you cover 50 metres in a minute. If you can increase your stroke rate to 55 or 60 for example, you will be quicker – travel more distance – in that minute. Simple!
For context, some of the best age group swimmers have stroke rates of 65+ strokes per minute. The very best pros can be in excess of 70.
In Summary
So, to recap.
- ‘Fast hands’ entering the water
- Speed up recovery of stroke
- Don’t rush through or sacrifice your underwater pull
- Increase stroke rate gradually
Hope that helps. If you have any questions or want to know more about this – or any aspect of open water swimming – get in touch!