Swim Improvements by Numbers

Swimming can be a frustrating aspect when looking to improve, obviously it is very much a technique focus sport and with one afternoon of quality technique changes could equal months or swim training.

The two main aspects of swimming is strokes per minute (SPM) and distance per stroke (DPS) and a nice way to look at this is SPM is more fitness and DPS is more technique (this isn’t fully correct but a nice way to look at it).

But what does a small change to technique or a small change to cadence look like come race day. 

For the below example, we will take a swimmer who SPM is 60 and DPS is 90cm

Strokes Per Minute Improvements

Scenario	100m	Save/100m	1900m	Save/1900m	3800m	Save/3800m
SPM 61 (+1)	1:49.3	1.8s	34:37	35s	69:13	1:09
SPM 62 (+2)	1:47.5	3.6s	34:03	1:08	68:06	2:16
SPM 63 (+3)	1:45.8	5.3s	33:31	1:41	67:01	3:21
SPM 64 (+4)	1:44.2	6.9s	32:59	2:12	65:58	4:24

Distance Per Stroke Improvements

Scenario	100m	Save/100m	1900m	Save/1900m	3800m	Save/3800m
DPS 92 cm (+2cm)	1:48.7	2.4s	34:25	46s	68:50	1:32
DPS 94 cm (+4cm)	1:46.4	4.7s	33:41	1:30	67:23	3:00
DPS 96 cm (+6cm)	1:44.2	6.9s	32:59	2:12	65:58	4:24

Small improvements can equal real time.