distance per stroke

[dgk2009]

I have come a long way over the last year,really working on drills,superman glide and just relaxing and enjoying the water,doing more laps now and the breathing is improving,I feel my balance has improved also,but one thing shows no improvement,dsp,still takes me 25-30 strokes per 25 meters,I'm 5'5,150 pounds,any help on this would be great,even with a good push off maybe 24 strokes,what drills would help best with this??

[Ron Bear]

The drills that would help the most are totally dependent on what your worst problem is. For instance I suspect that your streamlining is bad. I would then suspect that rotation drills and breathing every three would be helpful. But supposing that is wrong, perhaps you just aren’t generating much thrust. Then I would work on your catch and snappy hips.
So one plan would be to get some reasonably decent swimmer to tell you what is really bad. Then ask the forum how to drill that for improvement. Here is another different kind of plan. Slow down. If your streamlining is good and you slow down, you will lower your SPL. So this then becomes a test. You slowed down. Your SPL is still bad. You are probably lifting your head, but possibly your legs are really far apart.
Also give data. Your SPL is 25-30 at what speed? What is it at a different speed? Right now you haven’t given enough info to get help. But I think I outlined what you need to tell us to change that.
Ron

[andyinnorway]

even better ask someone to film you with their iphone and post to youtube so we can see you swim, then you will get many great answers.

30 strokes per length is a lot, but I have seen people who take nearly 50.

if you don't want to share video, take it anyway and look at it yourself, it is a great tool.