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.
So it is really tiring to increase the SR without changing the stroke pattern. The stroke efficiency has to be sacrificed in order to allow a higher SR. And this may mean changing a lot of habits. Even if I am willing to change my stroking habits, I have no clue on how to make this change in a gradual "learnable" way.
Or may be it could be as simple as practicing a lot of sprint and the body will figure out a way to adapt itself to the new regimen?
I'm not a scientist Zirconium, as everyone here knows because I am too wordy, and parts of your post flew right over by ballooned head. But I wouldn't necessarily "sacrifice" the SPL wholesale for the SR or you'll be thrashing. Think Popov. Now, none of us are Popov. But you need both; you just need more SR to sprint decently.
I think practicing sprinting, as you suggest in your last paragraph, is a perfectly sensible way of raising your SR. All the sprinters here will likely tell you that practicing sprinting is the best way to improve at sprinting. You cannot swim slow in practice and expect to go fast in meets (or practice). There is a thread called "Help with Sprinting" or something like that started by Dennis Tesch which discusses this topic. I don't know the exact site. I betcha that Frank Thompson does though, cuz that guy is as smart as you.
So it is really tiring to increase the SR without changing the stroke pattern. The stroke efficiency has to be sacrificed in order to allow a higher SR. And this may mean changing a lot of habits. Even if I am willing to change my stroking habits, I have no clue on how to make this change in a gradual "learnable" way.
Or may be it could be as simple as practicing a lot of sprint and the body will figure out a way to adapt itself to the new regimen?
I'm not a scientist Zirconium, as everyone here knows because I am too wordy, and parts of your post flew right over by ballooned head. But I wouldn't necessarily "sacrifice" the SPL wholesale for the SR or you'll be thrashing. Think Popov. Now, none of us are Popov. But you need both; you just need more SR to sprint decently.
I think practicing sprinting, as you suggest in your last paragraph, is a perfectly sensible way of raising your SR. All the sprinters here will likely tell you that practicing sprinting is the best way to improve at sprinting. You cannot swim slow in practice and expect to go fast in meets (or practice). There is a thread called "Help with Sprinting" or something like that started by Dennis Tesch which discusses this topic. I don't know the exact site. I betcha that Frank Thompson does though, cuz that guy is as smart as you.
