Stroke length question

Leiming The pressure on your shoulder probably results because you are trying to improve stroke length by pushing water towards your feet more forcefully, which I think is a common instinct. That instinct results from thinking that stroke length is "how far you can push water back." It's not. Stroke length is "how far your body travels from one right (or left) hand entry to the next." And the distance your body travels in each stroke cycle will be influenced most by reducing drag and working WITH the water. Try this as an experiment in your next practice. Swim more quietly than usual. At all speeds. It will be easier at slower speeds and will require intense concentration at higher speeds. Compare your stroke count -- as well as other factors like sense of effort, pressure on your shoulder, how well you feel the water -- when swimming "silently" with that when you pay no attention to how much noise you make. Please let us know if anything changes as a result. Thanks Terry, I will try that today. Now I wonder how I can stroke fast, yet quietly.

Leiming The pressure on your shoulder probably results because you are trying to improve stroke length by pushing water towards your feet more forcefully, which I think is a common instinct. That instinct results from thinking that stroke length is "how far you can push water back." It's not. Stroke length is "how far your body travels from one right (or left) hand entry to the next." And the distance your body travels in each stroke cycle will be influenced most by reducing drag and working WITH the water. Try this as an experiment in your next practice. Swim more quietly than usual. At all speeds. It will be easier at slower speeds and will require intense concentration at higher speeds. Compare your stroke count -- as well as other factors like sense of effort, pressure on your shoulder, how well you feel the water -- when swimming "silently" with that when you pay no attention to how much noise you make. Please let us know if anything changes as a result. Thanks Terry, I will try that today. Now I wonder how I can stroke fast, yet quietly.