help wanted to shorten stroke rate

Literally making yourself "reach" for the other end of the pool will help with this. It may feel funny at first but learning how to make the most efficient use of your arm length is key. When I'm giving kids swimming lessons I use this analogy: pretend there is an invisible line coming out of the tip of your nose. Just reach as far forward as you can and pull back down your body. It's a mental thing. If you practice it enough it will become second-nature and you'll end up doing it without even thinking about it. I can make it to the other end of a 25M pool in 14-15 strokes but I also have longer arms than the normal person, making it easier. Also, have you ever tried breathing every 3 or 5 strokes? Have you tried getting your elbows out of the water? I used to do a drill in which you drag your fingertips along the top of the water. This was to demonstrate you simply stretching out as much as possible before taking a stoke back (talking about Freestyle of course). Simply developing a "bodily" pace will help lower your stroke count per length.

Did you compare kicking between you and the others? That may have caused the difference.

So today in practice we were doing a drill where we would swim a 50 and count the strokes plus time. Then the next 50 we would try to drop the stroke count by 2 but maintain the same speed. My typical 50 stroke count is 32, and with the drill I was able to get as low as 30 while maintaining the same speed. My coach was felt that I should be able to get a lower stroke count than that, and he's probably right in that I've seen better swimmers my height go 24-26. My question is this; should lowering my stroke count while maintaining the same speed be something I should work on a lot? Should it be a priority? I've seen on the Swimsmooth website that they talk about a "sweet spot:, that rate where you are at your maximum speed. They also show swimmers who have a shorter and choppier stroke but are very efficient in their own way (probably like Janet Evans). But my sweet spot now may not be where I should be in a couple years.

One thing, don't compare yourself to others with an arm-span greater than yours. Now, if your arm-span is the same and your taking more strokes yet going slower, then yes. Just wanted to get this out there, later.

One thing, don't compare yourself to others with an arm-span greater than yours. Now, if your arm-span is the same and your taking more strokes yet going slower, then yes. Just wanted to get this out there, later. I have average arm span, i.e. for a 5'10 guy my arm span is about 6 feet (or for what the swim smooth website calls the "ape index", I am +2 inches). So I'm pretty sure that I should be able to do better than 30-32 strokes per 50. I'm just wondering if this is something I should really concentrate on or just let it happen naturally.

Definitely work on distance per stroke (DPS). If your form is good, the biggest gains you can make are likely to be from swimming more efficiently (stream lining and DPS are big potential efficiency gains). If you are taking 20 strokes per length, holding the same speed, and are able to reduce the the stroke count to about 16, you've cut your energy usage by about as follows: 4 strokes /20 strokes = 20% - a big energy savings. Maybe not so important in a 50 sprint, but makes a big difference in anything longer. My fav drills to get a sense for DPS are finger-tip drill and catch-up drill (once heard someone call this scooter drill). Body roll helps your ability to use your poweful shoulder muscles to adduct you arm when you pull, but i don't get a good roll going with either of these drills. I've found that pull sets with paddles lets me work on roll and DPS. Some of the other better and younger swimmers on this board may have some better ideas.

Hi everyone I'm trying to reduce my front crawl armstroke rate. Currently I can get through 25M in 25 strokes (at best), my technique feels ok (high elbow recovery and a decent push phase), yet I notice other folks in the pool travelling the same distance in 15-20 strokes looking really relaxed. I'm working on improving my body roll, which I guess is the key, but any help or tips (maybe from someone who's had the same problem and has made a significant improvement) would be greatly appreciated. Cheers Andy make a video of you swimming freestyle (preferably side angle or underwater) put it on youtube then provide the link in this thread. swimmers with high stroke counts / low DPS can improve by doing drills where they concentrate on taking as few strokes as possible while only doing a 2 beat kick. begin by: 1) pushing off HARDER 2) streamlining SKINNIER & 3) GLIDING further Swimmers lower their DPS by improving their: 1) CATCH / feel for the water / EVF swimmers with low DPS are usually slipping water they could & should be catching you want to feel more resistance on your hands and arm when you pull 2) BODY POSITION neutral head position streamlined body accelerate your hands toward the finish of each stroke and concentrate on gliding more after each arm stroke with your non pulling arm out front, kind of like catch up stroke but you don't have to actually touch your hands before starting your next pull Watch great efficient swimmers and copy them TI