Stroke count sets

I am assuming that you are working out in a 25 metre pool. Those stroke counts are good. A low stroke count is not the only thing to aim for. Optimizing your stroke count is the goal. This means figuring out what combination of stroke length and stroke rate gives you the maximum speed while still staying efficient. All things being equal a longer stroke length is better than a shorter one. However if you achieve this greater length by slowing your turnover (stroke rate ) and maybe create gaps in your propulsion by over extending the glide then you will not go faster and will end up working harder. Do you feel that you glide from one stroke to another, smoothly with continuous acceleration ? If this is so then you are doing OK. A difference of 4 to 5 strokes per length between your easy pace and your race pace is about right. 18 to 19 strokes per length while racing at top speed is a good figure. Women tend to use 1 to 2 more strokes per length than men, because men on average tend to be taller and stronger. In this light your stroke count is superior to the average. I can do a 25mFreestyle length in 11 strokes but that is at slow speeds. 14 to 15 is my count for easy cruise swimming, 17 strokes per length for anaerobic threshold pace with at top speed a count of 19 to 20.

If you would like some advanced info on this then go to this link: http://www.bscta.com , then go to articles and download "teaching distance per stroke". This is a word document, is 14 pages long and details for coaches how to teach distance per stroke. Of course ideally your stroke length should stay the same whatever your speed, only your stroke rate and velocity would change. This would imply that you were holding well onto the water and there was no "slippage" as you go faster. That is an ideal that few attain. The smaller the range between your strokes per length from slow to fast then the better. Sets of swimming 25's at different speeds while trying to have your hands enter exactly the same spot in the water on each length are good for working on this. Anyway, good luck !

Tara, It would be nice to have some kind of acknowledgement or reply. I did put some time into posting them. Did you appreciate my info or was it not usefull.

I did send you a mail after u put the first post on, but you obviously didnt get it! I thought it was strange that you put another post up and didnt reply to the mail! I apologise, its probably me that mucked up the reply! So, I will start again, thank you very much for taking the time to reply to my post, the one thing that did really seem to help was watching where my hand enters the water on each length, and doing the same on different speed work. Have also been working on some "minor" flaws to my stroke which include : 1)lifting my head slightly to breath 2)exiting at the back of my stroke by flicking up which in turn pushes my hips down 3)entering the water slightly elbow down on my left arm, causing a slight dead spot in my stroke 4)rolling my hips to late on both sides (i.e. body rolling after the hand has entered the water not before 5)not kicking enough fullstop! Apart from that I think my stroke is pretty perfect ha ha. Definitely improving number 3 is helping alot, trying to enter my hand more similar to Popov (best way I could explain it) Have it on my right arm but not my left. It makes me feel like I am gliding from one stroke to the other a lot better like you mentioned in your first post. Only thing is I end up not doing it when I either get tired or I think of one of the other flaws, but my coach keeps reminding me!!!

Sorry ! For some reason that message did not come thru to me. I apologize for the tone of my last post ! It seems as though you are doing a lot right. BTW The flick at the end of the armstroke forces your arm into a straight arm recovery, at least for the start of that movement. I know because I used to do that myself. It sounds as though your coach is "on the ball". Do you work on a "soft entry" ?

I used to have straight arm recovery (until about 14 months ago) so perhaps thats where the flick at the back of my stroke comes from. What do you mean by "soft entry", I work on trying to relax my arms on the recovery because I have a real tendancy to "muscle" over the top of the water instead of actually recovering on the recovery. I can do it now on aerobic work but find it difficult on sprints. I am also trying to enter my hand through a small hole and making sure my elbow enters after it (what I mentioned about dropping my elbow on my left arm and entering elbow first). Again this is easier to do on slow work and takes a lot of concentration to do on sprint work, but if I lower the intensity from max by about 5% I can just do it and it feels like I could hold it for 200 race which would be good!!! Yes, my coach is very technically orientated, most of the club only get 11 and a half hours pool time, so we have to make up for it by having good techique and efficient training!!!:cool:

Have you asked your coach about this ? From what I can gather he seems to be able to answer the question and your own coach should be the first person to ask. A 'hard entry' is where the recovery hand is thrust into the water forcefully, possibly slapping the water as it enters. This causes a number of problems: 1- whenever you forcefully push against the water it pushes back just as hard ( you create more drag ) that slows you down. 2 - Air bubbles can be trapped around the hand and these prevent an effective catch or hold on the water. 3 - Whenever you hear 'noise' from your actions when swimming it is a sign of energy being wasted. Wasted energy cannot be transferred into moving forward. A 'soft entry' creates less drag, can eliminate trapped air bubbles from your hand & arm and conserves energy. It also enables the momentum from your stroking hand finishing its pull to be transmitted into forward acceleration. You can check if you have a soft entry by swimming and 'hearing' to see if you make any noise - 'slaps' or 'plops'. Also look to see if any bubbles attach to your hand as it enters the water. A sprinter, 50m free, has to keep his stroke rate very high so the most important thing is to recover quickly, a hard entry is less harmful to his speed than too slow a turnover. However any event over 100m in length really should be swum with a soft entry.

Thanks for your answer, very informative and helpful. :cool: Originally posted by Gareth Eckley Have you asked your coach about this ? From what I can gather he seems to be able to answer the question and your own coach should be the first person to ask. But his perception of the term "soft entry" may be somthing different. Its not something he has used with me in the past! Your use in the message was the first time I had heard it! Thanks again for your answers!:D