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.
The most phenominal swimmer I ever swam against was Laura Val. I was always 2nd to her in the backstroke; she owns it.
She's 55 now and here are some of her times this past year:
100 LCM Free: 1:02.63
100 SCM Fly: 1:10.93
100 SCM Back: 1:14.80
She also frequently kicks 100 yd free sets under 1:30, and can hold 100 yd free sets under 1:00. She is an advocate of BIG paddles, resistance tubing, pull buoys, kickboards. She says she is a swim training junkie, so to speak; she thrives on the hard, power training, lots of yardage. She has never had a swimming injury.:bow:
Donna
Oh, c'mon Donna I can take her.:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:
Sure, I don't use BIG paddles, resistance tubing, pull buoys or kickboards. Big deal. I do lift some weights (granted many are 5 lb. handweights) and I scull a little because Solar told me to. Plus, I just got a finis shooter monofin for xmas!! Yippee! So I'm good. That 100 SCM fly is all my mine. I'll just swim the whole thing underwater. It's just a minor detail that I haven't ever swum it in SCM... I'm going to check her 50 times. You just provided her 100 times. Maybe I can keep up with there even though she's got 10 years on me. :rofl: I saw her at Worlds. She is a stud. She's also taller than me, of course. Just like that Lisa Dahl in my age group is taller. Everybody and there mother is taller except my baby sister the FlyQueen.
Solar:
I have heard many people remark that sprinters don't really need to "practice." So for my last meet in early Dec., I pretty much didn't because of a little injury issue. Just did a little TI stuff, lots of SDKs and a few 25s once in awhile and went running instead. Worked out just fine. So I guess, right now, I'm a "sprinty sprinter." I'm hoping to redeem myself a bit in 2007 and become a more studly well-rounded sprinter.
The most phenominal swimmer I ever swam against was Laura Val. I was always 2nd to her in the backstroke; she owns it.
She's 55 now and here are some of her times this past year:
100 LCM Free: 1:02.63
100 SCM Fly: 1:10.93
100 SCM Back: 1:14.80
She also frequently kicks 100 yd free sets under 1:30, and can hold 100 yd free sets under 1:00. She is an advocate of BIG paddles, resistance tubing, pull buoys, kickboards. She says she is a swim training junkie, so to speak; she thrives on the hard, power training, lots of yardage. She has never had a swimming injury.:bow:
Donna
Oh, c'mon Donna I can take her.:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:
Sure, I don't use BIG paddles, resistance tubing, pull buoys or kickboards. Big deal. I do lift some weights (granted many are 5 lb. handweights) and I scull a little because Solar told me to. Plus, I just got a finis shooter monofin for xmas!! Yippee! So I'm good. That 100 SCM fly is all my mine. I'll just swim the whole thing underwater. It's just a minor detail that I haven't ever swum it in SCM... I'm going to check her 50 times. You just provided her 100 times. Maybe I can keep up with there even though she's got 10 years on me. :rofl: I saw her at Worlds. She is a stud. She's also taller than me, of course. Just like that Lisa Dahl in my age group is taller. Everybody and there mother is taller except my baby sister the FlyQueen.
Solar:
I have heard many people remark that sprinters don't really need to "practice." So for my last meet in early Dec., I pretty much didn't because of a little injury issue. Just did a little TI stuff, lots of SDKs and a few 25s once in awhile and went running instead. Worked out just fine. So I guess, right now, I'm a "sprinty sprinter." I'm hoping to redeem myself a bit in 2007 and become a more studly well-rounded sprinter.
