How To Use Stroke Rate To Build Stroke Length ...Middle East

By SwimSwam Contributors on SwimSwam

Courtesy: Andrew Sheaff

Stroke rates are one of the best ways to help swimmers get faster, but we often fail to use them to their full potential. Stroke rates are typically used during race training to help swimmers rehearse race stroke rates. This is great, but it’s only scratching the surface.

Stroke rates are way more powerful.

In a previous article, I discussed the value of using stroke counts during training to help swimmers learn to sustain their stroke length as they fatigue. While it’s a powerful strategy to help their swimmers improve their skills while training hard, it’s certainly not the only one.

How else can we help swimmers improve their stroke length and skill during training?

Stroke rates.

The concept is simple.

Give swimmers a set stroke rate and then keep asking them to go faster without changing their stroke rate.

If swimmers have to swim faster, and they can’t move their arms faster, they only have one option left. They must figure out how to swim bigger and they have to figure out how to swim better. There is no other choice. By constraining their stroke rate and asking for speed, we can force swimmers to find a way to improve their stroke length.

NOTE– Some (smart!) swimmers will realize that they can go faster if they improve their underwaters or turns without improving their surface swimming. Is that the worst thing in the world? We just got swimmers to voluntarily work on skills they never focus on! If it is a concern, simply limit the kick count so they focus on surface swimming.

What makes this strategy work is that there is objective feedback after each repetition. They get their time, and they know if they stayed on the stroke rate or not. When they’re successful, they know to continue to do what they’re doing. If not, they know they need to change. Swimmers are goal-oriented, and when faced with a clear problem, they will find a solution.

From a practical standpoint, this strategy works a whole lot better when swimmers have some sort of external metronome to keep them honest with the stroke rate. It will be very difficult for them to stay on track without the help, especially when they’re expected to hit precise stroke rates. Tempo trainers work really well here, as does playing audio files of a metronome through underwater speakers for swimmers to listen to.

Options

Below are a few ways that I like to implement stroke rates in training. For each option, I’ve included a simple set to illustrate the concept.  Just about anything goes and you can take the concept and apply it in any way you’d like.

Descend at the Same Stroke Rate

In contrast to traditional descending sets, swimmers have to swim better to swim faster rather than just swimming harder. They’ll still have to swim harder, but they’ll do so with great skills as well. Descending efforts can be included at any intensity.

Negative Split at the Same Stroke Rate

This option is similar to the previous one, except swimmers will try to increase the speed and the skill within the repetitions rather than between them. The value of negative splitting is well-established, and we’re making it even more effective by ensuring swimmers are turning up the effort AND the skill on the back half.

As Fast as Possible at a Given Stroke Rate

3 Rounds through

This option is great for improving length at speed. It helps swimmers learn that they can create a lot of speed through skill and not just effort. While it works really well with high-speed work, it can be used during longer swimming as well. Just adjust the rates based on the distances and how fast you want them to swim.

Race Speed @ Double Distance Race Rate

This is a fun option where you can help swimmers get comfortable hitting race speeds at slower stroke rates. Once they can, they’ll find it’s a lot easier for them to swim even faster when returning to normal stroke rates. At first, you’ll have to give them more rest to make it happen.

A Powerful Tool For Any Context

What’s great about stroke rates is they you can use them during any type of set and with any type of swimming. They work well with sprint work, endurance work, and race work. They work when swimming, when drilling, when swimmers are using training aids, or when swimming against resistance.

And in every case, you can use them to help swimmers swim better and swim longer, all while training hard.

All that’s required is a little creativity.

ABOUT ANDREW SHEAFF

Andrew Sheaff has coached swimming for almost 20 years, including 6 years at the University of Virginia where he helped the Cavaliers win 3 NCAA team championships. He is the author of the book ‘A Constraints-Led Approach To Swim Coaching’, which identifies strategies for optimizing individual skill development in large group training environments. The book focuses on enhancing skills that directly improve performance and training those skills to reliably show up in races. He currently works as a consultant to coaches, clubs, and swimming organizations. He can be reached at his website www.coachandrewsheaff.com.

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