How To Improve Your Swim Stroke Rate | The Optimum Swimming Cadence For Triathlon

[@corywaltz7238]

As a poor swimmer I was excited to see this video. But in a 5 minute long video you spent 40 seconds on the drills without actually explaining how to do the drills. Dissappointing.

[@heatherfell_oly]

Cory the video was designed more to explain the stroke rate but if you are looking for more detailed drills check out some of our other videos that focus specifically on drills and technique, I hope they help.

[@chunyuenlau56]

If you increase your stroke rate without going quicker (ie: compromising your stroke length), then what's the point? Wouldn't your arms get tired faster? Shouldn't you aim for higher cadence AND quicker speed (ie: maintain your stroke length)?

[@froccsos]

Here is the English translation: a higher stroke rate can also reduce the torque on the shoulders.

[@dannybishop484]

More strokes for the same speed? That really isn’t a positive outcome. More strokes and a higher speed, yes, but more strokes at the same speed just means you’re expending more energy than you need to.

[@skykaptain007]

I approve of the dolphin kicks Heather! Good breakout discipline.

[@heatherfell_oly]

skykaptain007 thanks, my old coach obviously drummed it in for enough years!

[@mikedickerson3944]

Heather has a relatively deep pull; her left arm especially. The further one reaches and the deeper one’s arm is, the slower the cadence. It’s like grinding a big gear on a bike. Bending your elbow a bit more so your hand doesn’t go so deep will allow a quicker turnover. Also keeping that elbow like 2 inches higher will speed up your cadence. Or you could keep doing what you’re doing but get a lot stronger; that’ll speed it up, too. The mechanics of swim stroke rate vs power are exactly like spinning vs grinding gears on a bike.

[@Krilin84]

Thanks for this explanation. I've been struggling to understand how to increase stroke rate without needing to first become fitter and stronger and you made sense of it.

[@redmcclaff]

I do 1 second arm pull for front crawl, that's for distance swims or easy training sessions. I used to do more, for example in 25m pool I used to do 23 arm pulls 4m glide off wall! 20seconds per length. (average length) I brought that down to 18 per length then 15! The difference was in maximizing the glide and maintaining power, I got faster on my lengths, bear in mind everybody has a slight difference in their stlye. I'm 30 years surfing as well so laying on a board with head up wide arm pull prob helps my stroke in the long run. So important point is the distance you do within 60 second timed swim, counting your arm pulls. Watching better swimmers and timing them while counting their strokes, will give you some idea.

[@jm6734]

Increasing stroke rate for long open water swimming seems a bit crazy to me for long ocean swimming, (I’m still learning). One should think an energy efficient stroke with a bit of glide would be better to keep up endurance. Perhaps the hectic 'dogfighting' we see among the fittest most competitive triathletes has brought this on. They’re able to do this without getting out of breath and anxious in the ocean. But should age groupers really pursue this.. I get exhausted after 50m going like this.

[@helgearnewinkelbauer9798]

I don't quite understand how it is physically possible to have a faster stroke rate without sinply putting more effort in, i.e. swim faster. I try to pull as much water every stroke as possible and work on my arm movements. Pulling the same amount of water per stroke, but having more strokes per minute makes it more exhausing, but fast. Of course professionals have a faster stroke rate, they are extremely fit, but their arms are not bigger so they have to have faster strokes. Increasing the stroke rate seems just like tempo training to me. Am I missing something? I'm quite new to swimming and open for advice.

[@ross3946]

I'm hitting 28-31 strokes/min, which is half what's being shown in this video. I can't imagine doing twice the strokes but will try the drills.

[@kiwi1511]

Same!

[@redmcclaff]

What's the distance in a minute? That's important too

[@froccsos]

How tall are you? Arm length also matters when thinking about stroke rate.

[@helmut.jansen]

What do you think about Terry Laughlins "Total Immersion"?

[@jm6734]

TRIOSOPH it’s pretty much the opposite this 😅 Still it was thanks to TI that I overcame my breathing issues and was able to relax enough to swim crawl. But now I feel so slow doing it I’m trying to do more powerful strokes.

[@normanwoods8844]

Great video. I once heard having a short stroke that was quick was needed for Triathlon do to the crowded environment we swim in at times. Allows for better swim stroke adjustments. Acceleration, slowing down, fighting through and over crowds, or having someone swim up your back. Any truth to this?

[@legrandempereurcosmique5142]

Pwaaaah, I’m at lower than 40 spm, still a long way to go

[@jakeh3236]

What's the point in going from 37 to 41 strokes per minute if you didn't swim any faster?

[@bjornkinding6998]

Q: Heather took off with some powerful dolphin kicks, making it more likely that her stroke rate was 37 strokes over 45 m (alt. 33 sec.) or so. In open water, that would translate to a higher stroke rate, right? Q: My Garmin measures every left-right cycle as one stroke, giving me the score of 21 strokes/50m and a SWOLF = time + 21. You count each push as one stroke, which means my SWOLF = time + 42. Which is the correct way to count strokes and to calculate SWOLF?

[@knuj007]

Incredible pool! I want to swim there! Where is that?

[@heatherfell_oly]

We filmed that in Lanzarote at Club La Santa, it is rather nice!

[@drdancoughlan4248]

I assume stroke rate can be reported as the same arm (left, left, left), or alternate arms (left, right, left, right)? My Apple Watch says I have a 28 rate, which based on this video I guess is actually a 56? It seems unlikely I’m that far behind (28 vs 60+ in the video). Anyone got any experience with this? Seems like a couple of other comments have suggested similarly low rates. Or maybe I’m just really slow...!

[@freddysolano5483]

I was wondering the same 🤔

[@pawetarsaa9904]

I'm swimming 1km in ~21mins with a stroke rate of 23/min. I thought that I should increase my propulsion power but it seems that my stroke rate is way too low.

[@sqmp446]

What a huge pool

[@twigle3015]

doggie paddle drill, (basically swim like a dog with the arms “crawling” under water continuously) gets the glide out of the stroke fairly quickly. On a sciensce note, I wonder how much propulsion can be generated on the rear end of the pull. I wonder if the front part of the pull (until the lower rib cage) isn’t generating most propulsion. That would mean that shortening the stroke could be a good strategy, except when you are swimming with elite athletes that all have the high turnover well under control and need the last bit of pull to make the difference?

[@frankeeeej]

After doing some quick math, I'm at... 30ish strokes per 50... I guess I know what I have to work on then :p (Big power strokes do work wonders for my 50m freestyle races tho, but I guess that´s just a case of the swim speed finally catching up with the stroke lenght, haha)

[@carlbyronrodgers]

Any take on Tempo trainer pro?

[@MrJhockley]

I find for a more accurate measure of stroke rate is to use a tempo trainer. I find the match the tempo trainer to my css or race pace. In a pool you need to account for the push and dolphin kick off a wall which can take 5meters off the length of the pool and a few seconds you are not stroking. This is important because in open water there is no wall pushing to affect your swim. Taking this into consideration e.g. Heather did an estimated 37 strokes in around 34 seconds thus her stroke rate is around 65-66spm.

[@fajarmangadan2476]

Nice

[@jameshallfishing3377]

Do you have anything on swimming slower?

[@notmyrealname6272]

Aw Fraser. ❤

[@MrWessel007]

Heya. What advice would you give someone who does not have access to a public or gym pool. Basically i only have a pool at home. I use a stretch rope around my ankle and swim in a stationary position.

[@heatherfell_oly]

Wessel you can count your strokes for a set period of time and work out your stroke rate that way. It is hard to do all of your training in this way but certainly better than not swimming. If you can access a longer pool once a week it will also help significantly. I find swimming with a cord naturally makes my stroke rate higher so if you can carry this over to racing that has to be a positive.

[@MrWessel007]

@@heatherfell_oly thank you kindly. Keep up the awesome content😁

[@alexandredube8419]

What are those shades dude! They are sweeeeeettt

[@vijayankush3082]

Good videos

[@edwarding4355]

I think this is bullshit. Elite swimmers have a faster stroke rate because they are faster. You may have a faster open water stroke rate because of turbulance, because you can't catch as much water. If the women made it across the pool in the same time, but with more strokes to increase the stroke rate, that means she did it by slipping and not getting a good catch. It is a waste of energy.

[@robg109]

My watch records strokes per minute, but also SWOLF. Does anyone use SWOLF for pool traininng?

[@heatherfell_oly]

Robg109 I haven't actually used SWOLF before, but it sounds useful. What watch do you have?

[@robg109]

@@heatherfell_oly it's a garmin fenix 3. Seconds per length plus strokes per length. So 50m and 25m values are different. I think for open water, strokes per 100m, strokes per minute and time per 100m may be interesting. Might look back at my garmin data tonight. I've not been swimming properly for long but my improvements seem to have plateaued. Need to take it to the next level this year

[@heatherfell_oly]

@@robg109 Good luck with your swimming for the year ahead!