Extend Your Stroke

Counting strokes doesn’t always work. But it generally works to get someone more efficient.  Length of body, arms, etc. are all factors. So, for distance swimming, when efficiency and stamina are important, counting strokes counts.

In the first part of this video, I just let Patty swim.  Then I asked her to extend her stroke.  Just a count of one when that arm is going into the water. 

I would suggest that if you are going to try this, give a count of one or two, so you are exaggerating a bit, to get the feel of extending.  To get more of a reach.

This is where the ‘skating’ drill comes in.  By getting proper rotation, it is much easier to extend that forward arm.  Also, when you are turning properly, it kinda gets your hip out of the way to get your hand out of the water.

We kept it simple here at the beginning.  Just asked her to hold that arm out a bit extra.   And you can see in the second and third sections of the video that she is extending her reach.  Going just as fast with a slightly longer stroke.

It takes practice to change one’s stroke after doing the same thing for years.  But it can be done.