Stuck in a Plateau?

It is entirely possible that you are not meant to sprint. If your DPS is 12-13, that is very good. If you can't go fast for a short burst, maybe you can go 40 second 50s for a long time? Try a set of short rest (5 seconds) 50s, maybe 20 or more. See what you average for each 50. If it is about the same for all 20, you are a distance swimmer. If it falls down as the set goes on, you are a sprinter.

Hi Jeanette, you feel you've plateaued You're intent on overcoming it and getting faster, but you're not sure what I"m doing wrong. You practice by yourself because the master team practices at 5:30 am. you think your technique's OK you wrote "I'm VERY slow average about 40 seconds (pushing off wall) for 50 yard freestyle." When you try to increase your stroke rate for sprints, you tend to keep the same times as when you do sets of stretch freestyle. Any ideas on what I might be able to do to increase my speed? Thank you for any tips you can give!!! I wish I had a video to show but alas no luck. Jeneatte, there's many ways to transform your ability. Like SFF Tip 335 Build a Fortress of Speed & Strength & here's the whole Swim Faster Faster Index Your goal is to get faster. Now I want you to be more specific. Is there a meet or an event or time you're trying to beat? Like "I want to improve my 50 scy freestyle time from x to y by (pick a date)" How bad do you want to be good? how are you training now? How many times a week? How much per practice? what sort of sets? By yourself or with a training partner? Are you lifting weights or doing exercises? What are your times for 25 flutter kick & 25 free sprint? Your height is 5'4" and your weight is ??? How many minutes did you rest before you did the 50 for time? What kind of suit did you wear? Don't make an "I-don't-have-a-video" excuse get someone with an iPhone to video you swimming 1) towards and away & 2) from the side put them on youtube and provide us with the links If a friend has an underwater camera, do underwater shots also do a close up video of you pushing off and sprinting some swimmers waste a lot of time with poor pushoffs & transitions have the person stand under the flags & video you pushing off and sprinting 10 yards Create a training program and do it for 4, 6, or 10 weeks Post your progress Consider the "Help my ___ is horrible!" Do you have a stopwatch and a timer? Get one on one freestyle sprint lessons from someone who knows their stuff I bet you have lots of low hanging fruit. Find out what it is and pick it. Get off that plateau and get faster. Stop making excuses and start making progress. Ande

Get a tempo trainer (Finis has one) and experiment with different stroke rates while keeping your 12 - 13 strokes per length. As long as you keep a high elbow catch and not "spin your wheels" you should go faster. I agree. Your current stroke rate is probably around 1.2 seconds per stroke. 40 seconds / (13x2 strokes + 3 for push-off + 4 for turn). I would practice with the tempo trainer at 1.2 until you're comfortable taking 12-13 strokes and coming in at :40. Then, turn it down to 1.18 and see if you can maintain your stroke count. Keep dialing it down by .02 as long as you're speeding up or staying constant. For example: 1x50 at 1.2 13 strokes :40.0 1x50 at 1.18 13 strokes :38.9 1x50 at 1.16 14 strokes :40.6 In this example, 1.18 is a sweet spot. You would then work on trying to improve at 1.16 or to get more consistent at 1.18.

Yes the push off speed is faster then swiming. I see all kinds of suggestions, re 13 strokes per 50. I am sure you are not able to do this. The secret of swimming fast is to get the most out of streamline. Streamline is not only while underwater but includes the hand entry the catch, the pull thru until your finish and how your hand exits the water. Getting the elbows high however a completely relaxed forearm while it is above water. Thanks for the tip! Would this work with a push off as well, and if so what time would you suggest I shoot for in that case, 15 seconds? Unfortunately we're not allowed to dive-in at our pool. The swimming blocks are forbidden, and we can't dive into the shallow end. Rules GRRRRRRR..

After reading some more and thinking about my stroke last night as I swam, I realize a few things (some of which has already been suggested). - I have a horrible and lazy kick and my kick timing when trying to sprint throws my whole stroke off. - I need to get stronger - I have developed a bad habit of gliding too much for each stroke (my dps last night while doing 50's on a minute and having about 18-20 seconds rest was still about 13 strokes) I'm not trying to aim for a specific stroke rate I seem to have just gotten comfortable with this lazy glide stroke of mine and need to kick myself into gear without allowing my stroke to fall apart. I am going to: 1) introduce some strength training into my regime 2) work on kick sets more often 3) "Try varying the intensity of your stroke. Swim a length where you just ride over your stroke and keep increasing the pressure. Stroking faster does not necessarily make you go faster. " Good description, thanks for the tip! I feel like I can visualize what that should feel like to accomplish. :)

I think your strokes per lap is not optimal for your height. If you were 6' tall it would be good but as you are 5'4" you are probably over gliding, swimming almost catch-up freestyle. If you try to raise your tempo but try to keep 12 strokes per lap I don't you will have much luck. You should read this blog post from Swim Smooth about stroke analysis from the 1500m gold medalists at the last world championships. It is largely focused on avoiding overgliding. www.feelforthewater.com/.../our-stroke-analysis-two-best-1500m.html

Try varying the intensity of your stroke. Swim a length where you just ride over your stroke and keep increasing the pressure. Stroking faster does not necessarily make you go faster.

Don't forget you have a lower half. KICK. Introduce sprint kick sets to your workout. 25s are fine. Give yourself plenty of rest. Focus on the "up-kick" as much as the "down-kick". Get a pair of fins but only use them for sprinting. Get used to the feel of going faster. It works.