Stroke Rate vs Stroke Length, which is more difficult?
Former Member
This topic may have been discussed in the past but a search gave too many hits. I am very interested by your comment and advices for the following real scenario. This is for kids but may be this could apply to masters. BTW, I am just a parent swimmer, very interested in swimming in general but unfortunately not a good enough swimmer.
Two age group swimmers (11-12 years old) coming from different swimming history have opposite swimming style:
Swimmer 1 (let's call the higher stroke rate swimmer) swims 50 meters freestyle, taking 60 strokes. Swimmer2 does it in 45 strokes, with a time 0.5 to 1 second slower.
In general, Swimmer1 beats Swimmer2 in all distances (freestyle and back). Including a 2000 meter freestyle test set, faster by about 20 seconds. In this particular 2000m, aside the time and stroke rate, Swimmer2 (slower stroke rate) did it with even splits while Swimmer1 positive splits toward the last 25% of the distance.
Q1. Assuming two swimmers have similar aerobic conditions, which one will have better margin of progression? More exactly, would it be "easier" for Swimmer1 to improve the technique or for Swimmer2 to improve the Stroke Rate?
Q2. What would you recommend to these swimmers to get better?
To these two swimmers, stroke rate seems to be the winning bet. Swimmer2 was taught with a focus on excellent technique (and indeed looks better in the water), but is confused as this skill doesn't translate into better performance.
Of course, we are talking about SL and SR relative to a context where the swimmers already know about swimming.
Thanks you in advance for your help.
Parents
Former Member
I hope I am a responsible parent as you suggested. The coach pretty much advices what seems obvious: Swimmer1 should improve Stroke length and Swimmer2 should improve Stroke rate. He'll work with the kids the way he wants, I prefer not to interfer with the coach business.
I'd like to know from your experience what is the reality of SR / SL. How they evolve as the swimmer gets more experienced. Something like (those are just imaginary assumptions) "once you are used to high SR or high SL, you stick with it" or "it's normal to start with high SR with low SL and reverse it in time", etc.
At one time in your swimming career, you have probably done some breakthrough. This could have been technique, weight training, aerobic conditioning, kicks, etc. If it had something to do with regards to SR or SL what was it?
I hope I am a responsible parent as you suggested. The coach pretty much advices what seems obvious: Swimmer1 should improve Stroke length and Swimmer2 should improve Stroke rate. He'll work with the kids the way he wants, I prefer not to interfer with the coach business.
I'd like to know from your experience what is the reality of SR / SL. How they evolve as the swimmer gets more experienced. Something like (those are just imaginary assumptions) "once you are used to high SR or high SL, you stick with it" or "it's normal to start with high SR with low SL and reverse it in time", etc.
At one time in your swimming career, you have probably done some breakthrough. This could have been technique, weight training, aerobic conditioning, kicks, etc. If it had something to do with regards to SR or SL what was it?
