Stroke count?

Love this thread... I feel like I know everyone so much better now ;) When I first started swimming a few years back I worked really hard on DPS and when I started swimming seriously as my main mode of exercise a couple of years ago I could hit 9-11 SCY when focused, but my times didn't get much better for a long time simply because I didn't want to sacrifice any of those strokes to increase speed. My problem, as I found out last year, was obsessing about stroke count and completely ignoring stroke rate. It's important to find your optimal stroke rate too... you can have a really low stroke count but with a really slow turnover rate you won't do much more than glide. That's where I was for a while. Now I'm happy with a stroke count of 14-17 per 25 because the speed trade off was worth it. At some point I'll probably revisit the stroke length again to see if I can increase it slightly while maintaining the same stroke rate.

By my count, Michael Gross (Albatross) took 32 strokes for third length and 35 strokes for last length in the 200M freestyle at 1984 Olympics (1:47.44 WR). He was (well, is) 2.01 meters (6'7") tall with a 2.13 meter (7'0") wingspan.

Wow. That is awesome. Really good breaststrokers like Allen are exactly that: Awesome. Here is Steve West setting WR M35-39 SCM 200 *** at the SPMA Championships, Dec 2011. Stroke count for this 200 meter swim was 5 + 6 + 6 + 7 + 7 + 7 + 8 + 10. It's particularly interesting because he employs a whole range of stroke lengths and stroke rates. Splits were 31.10 + 34.61 (1:05.71) + 34.98 + 34.95 (1:09.93) = 2:15.64. Wow. 8DKn4cgS6o4

After Hill Taylor's 1 stroke per lap 100 back in this video, you can see what 6 strokes per length looks like on a good breastroker. They were playing with a no 15 meter rule, but he was fairly close to being legit. And to answer your earlier question Elaine, backstroke spl should be lower than freetsyle just by dint of getting a good series of dolphins off of each turn. My stroke count is 8 per lap during a 200 back (+/- ten yards spent underwater.) Freestyle spl is 10/11 during practice. 14/15 on an all out sprint. (Height: 6'-3" Wing span: 6'-5".) Thanks, Quick! Wow, that's an incredible stroke count you have. :applaud: As for Hill Taylor, I wish I had a fraction of his lung capacity! :bow:

Really good breaststrokers like Allen are exactly that: Awesome. Here is Steve West setting WR M35-39 SCM 200 *** at the SPMA Championships, Dec 2011. Stroke count for this 200 meter swim was 5 + 6 + 6 + 7 + 7 + 7 + 8 + 10. It's particularly interesting because he employs a whole range of stroke lengths and stroke rates. Splits were 31.10 + 34.61 (1:05.71) + 34.98 + 34.95 (1:09.93) = 2:15.64. Wow. 8DKn4cgS6o4 Thanks for that video.That is a great example of a well swum race.

I can't find a video, but I remember hearing that Kevin Cordes took six strokes per length (other than the first and last lengths) when he recently set a new American Record in the 200 ***. Amazingly, he took 6 only on the last 25! 3 4 4 4 4 4 5 6 forums.usms.org/showthread.php

Amazingly, he took 6 only on the last 25! 3 4 4 4 4 4 5 6 I knew I read about his stroke count somewhere and forgot it was here. That is even more astonishing. I watched the video from NCAA finals last year and he seemed to be taking about 6 per 25 then. Amazing he can cut his stroke count down by something like 25% and go faster!

How big is he? I think Kitajima has probably the best DPS of any breaststroker and he is 5'9". www.youtube.com/watch

So you were pulling out right around the mid point of 25 yd lane? Nice! When you were doing block starts how far would you make it???

After Hill Taylor's 1 stroke per lap 100 back in this video, you can see what 6 strokes per length looks like on a good breastroker. They were playing with a no 15 meter rule, but he was fairly close to being legit. And to answer your earlier question Elaine, backstroke spl should be lower than freetsyle just by dint of getting a good series of dolphins off of each turn. My stroke count is 8 per lap during a 200 back (+/- ten yards spent underwater.) Freestyle spl is 10/11 during practice. 14/15 on an all out sprint. (Height: 6'-3" Wing span: 6'-5".)