Should You Raise, Lower or Maintain Your Stroke Rate?
New Oceanside CA Squad starting July 26th
Montreal Squads
Kuala Lumpur Swim Squad
Hong Kong Squads & Video Analysis
Perth Squads
Nijmegen Video Analysis. & Stroke Correction
City Of Elche Video Analysis / Squads
Zwevegem Video Analysis (English
Prague Junior Swim Club
Yorkshire Video Analysis
West Lothian Video Analysis
Guernsey SS Squads
One of the most common questions we get asked at Swim Smooth is should I be looking to raise my stroke rate? Equally, we often have to look at swimmers and ask is their rate is too high? Would they swim more effectively if they slowed their stroke slightly and lengthened out a little?
Way back in 2009 we published the Swim Smooth Stroke Rate Chart (you can find it on our website here). The key to this chart is that it takes account of your current swimming speed such that it covers any level of freestyle swimmer, from beginner right through to Olympian:
Up the side we have your stroke rate in strokes per minute - counting both arms. Note this is your strokes per minute, not strokes per length! If you've used a Finis Tempo Trainer Pro you'll be familiar with your stroke rate.
Across the bottom we simply have the speed you are swimming - this can be steady swimming, CSS pace or sprinting or anywhere in between, as long as you use the corresponding stroke rate at that effort level on the vertical axis.
If you sit in the blue zone, we are saying that you need to look to raise your stroke rate to make progress with your swimming.
If you sit in the red zone, then you need to look to slow your stroke rate slightly and lengthen out.
If you are in the white zone, then your stroke rate is about right for your level of swimming - at least as far as this tool can tell you. To improve you should look to gradually lift both your stroke rate and the length of your stroke to traverse up the white area.
Notice that the white area is quite wide vertically and this takes account of your individual height, build and personal style. If you are quite short or have short arms then you can expect to be towards the top nearer the red zone and tall rangy swimmers nearer the blue zone.
Let's look at classic two example swimmers:
Stroke Rate Too Slow
Here's Patrick, a classic Overglider with a distinct pause at the front of his stroke:
With a swimming speed of 2:10/100m and a stroke rate of 35 SPM Patrick sits on the blue dot here, clearly in the blue zone. By improving his stroke technique to lift his stroke rate, we can expect him to move into the white zone in the direction of the arrow:
The right way to lift Patrick's stroke rate is to work on his catch technique to remove that deadspot at the front (see the stroke correction process in the Guru and this video analysis here). This alone will naturally lift him into the white zone.
By working on removing the deadspot and improving his catch, Patrick's stroke will gain much more purpose, improving his traction on the water and lifting him higher in the water.
The wrong way to proceed would be to simply try and turn his arms over faster with the stroke flaw still in place - incredibly hard work!
Stroke Rate Too High
Here's Dean:
Dean is a classic Arnie and sits on the red dot here with a speed of 1:55/100m and a stroke rate of 68 SPM. By progressively reducing his stroke rate and lengthening him out, we can expect Dean to travel into the white zone like so:
A great way to do this would be to follow the Arnie stroke correction process in the Guru - using body position and rotation exercises such as 6/1/6.
By slowing his stroke rate we reduce that tendency to fight the water and give him time to straighten out his stroke and gain more traction on the water. Longer to exhale between breaths will improve his balance in too, lifting the legs higher.
Note we are only looking to reduce Dean's stroke rate by around 7-8 SPM, if we reduce it any further the danger is he will enter the blue zone and become that classic cross breed, the Arnie-Overglider.
Your Own Swimming
Of course you'll want to look yourself up on the chart too. You can do this by eye on the chart or enter your numbers into the interactive chart half way down this page on our website:
http://www.swimsmooth.com/strokerate.html
If you're not sure of your current stroke rate and don't have a Tempo Trainer Pro to find out, then ask a friend to time how long it takes you to take 10 strokes (counting both arms) using a stopwatch. Divide 600 by that number of seconds. So if it takes you 11.3 seconds to take 10 strokes, your stroke rate is 600 / 11.3 = 53 strokes per minute.
Elite Swimmers
You might be wondering where elite swimmers sit on this chart. There's two classic groupings for Swingers and Smooths.
The likes of Ian Thorpe, Michael Phelps and Rebecca Adlington have long smooth strokes and lie in this area:
The Swingers of the world such as Sharon van Rouwendaal, Janet Evans and the Brownlee brothers lie in this upper grouping:
Interestingly, the great Katie Ledecky (whose stroke lies somewhere between Swinger and Smooth) sits between:
It just goes to show there's more than one way to swim quickly and efficiently.
Swim Smooth!
Way back in 2009 we published the Swim Smooth Stroke Rate Chart (you can find it on our website here). The key to this chart is that it takes account of your current swimming speed such that it covers any level of freestyle swimmer, from beginner right through to Olympian:
Up the side we have your stroke rate in strokes per minute - counting both arms. Note this is your strokes per minute, not strokes per length! If you've used a Finis Tempo Trainer Pro you'll be familiar with your stroke rate.
Across the bottom we simply have the speed you are swimming - this can be steady swimming, CSS pace or sprinting or anywhere in between, as long as you use the corresponding stroke rate at that effort level on the vertical axis.
If you sit in the blue zone, we are saying that you need to look to raise your stroke rate to make progress with your swimming.
If you sit in the red zone, then you need to look to slow your stroke rate slightly and lengthen out.
If you are in the white zone, then your stroke rate is about right for your level of swimming - at least as far as this tool can tell you. To improve you should look to gradually lift both your stroke rate and the length of your stroke to traverse up the white area.
Notice that the white area is quite wide vertically and this takes account of your individual height, build and personal style. If you are quite short or have short arms then you can expect to be towards the top nearer the red zone and tall rangy swimmers nearer the blue zone.
Let's look at classic two example swimmers:
Stroke Rate Too Slow
Here's Patrick, a classic Overglider with a distinct pause at the front of his stroke:
With a swimming speed of 2:10/100m and a stroke rate of 35 SPM Patrick sits on the blue dot here, clearly in the blue zone. By improving his stroke technique to lift his stroke rate, we can expect him to move into the white zone in the direction of the arrow:
The right way to lift Patrick's stroke rate is to work on his catch technique to remove that deadspot at the front (see the stroke correction process in the Guru and this video analysis here). This alone will naturally lift him into the white zone.
By working on removing the deadspot and improving his catch, Patrick's stroke will gain much more purpose, improving his traction on the water and lifting him higher in the water.
The wrong way to proceed would be to simply try and turn his arms over faster with the stroke flaw still in place - incredibly hard work!
Stroke Rate Too High
Here's Dean:
Dean is a classic Arnie and sits on the red dot here with a speed of 1:55/100m and a stroke rate of 68 SPM. By progressively reducing his stroke rate and lengthening him out, we can expect Dean to travel into the white zone like so:
A great way to do this would be to follow the Arnie stroke correction process in the Guru - using body position and rotation exercises such as 6/1/6.
By slowing his stroke rate we reduce that tendency to fight the water and give him time to straighten out his stroke and gain more traction on the water. Longer to exhale between breaths will improve his balance in too, lifting the legs higher.
Note we are only looking to reduce Dean's stroke rate by around 7-8 SPM, if we reduce it any further the danger is he will enter the blue zone and become that classic cross breed, the Arnie-Overglider.
Your Own Swimming
Of course you'll want to look yourself up on the chart too. You can do this by eye on the chart or enter your numbers into the interactive chart half way down this page on our website:
http://www.swimsmooth.com/strokerate.html
If you're not sure of your current stroke rate and don't have a Tempo Trainer Pro to find out, then ask a friend to time how long it takes you to take 10 strokes (counting both arms) using a stopwatch. Divide 600 by that number of seconds. So if it takes you 11.3 seconds to take 10 strokes, your stroke rate is 600 / 11.3 = 53 strokes per minute.
Elite Swimmers
You might be wondering where elite swimmers sit on this chart. There's two classic groupings for Swingers and Smooths.
The likes of Ian Thorpe, Michael Phelps and Rebecca Adlington have long smooth strokes and lie in this area:
The Swingers of the world such as Sharon van Rouwendaal, Janet Evans and the Brownlee brothers lie in this upper grouping:
Interestingly, the great Katie Ledecky (whose stroke lies somewhere between Swinger and Smooth) sits between:
It just goes to show there's more than one way to swim quickly and efficiently.
Swim Smooth!