How many arm strokes in front crawl over 25m?

Question

Hello, any swimmers..? I have read that to swim better and faster, you need to make each stroke more efficient, not simply do more strokes. With this in mind, I have been trying to reduce the number of arm strokes I use to cross a pool.

It would be helpful though, if I had a figure to aim at. If you're a swimmer, how many arm strokes do you use with front crawl? And what would you aim at? (At the moment, I am around 23 per 25m).

Thanks!

Answer 1

Yes - the current fad is to reduce arm strokes, and some very good swimmers swim with very few per length. BUT there are other very good swimmers than use many more arm strokes per length, put less effort into each arm stroke, and are very successful.

Its good to not use excessive number of arm strokes if you can easily be more efficient and use fewer, but reducing the number of arm strokes is not "The Answer" to fast swimming, despite what some people who want to sell a lot of how-to books will claim.

At one point in time, I could go 25 m with only 13 arm strokes, but if I wanted to really go fast, I needed more.

Answer 2

Wow,

that's not an easy question. I was a proffesional swimmer and made a lot of competitions.
It's different from person to person. A person who is tall can make 25m with 15 arm strokes or less, it depends on the speed. On a competition you need to do more arm strokes because you really have to speed up.
First of all you have to breath right. Some are making 3 strokes and than a deep breath. I'm making 6 arm strokes and than a deep breath. It depends on how good you are in swimming.

There are a few guidlines for the front crawl , like the technique for the arm strokes, the breathing and of course the leg work. It's hard to explain that outside the water .....lol
You could watch a competition on the TV. There you will have the chance to see what they are doing , how often they breath in and their special arm and leg work.

I hope that I could help a little.
Good Luck,

J.Z

Answer 3

Actually, that's kind of an odd way to do it, as your arms can only reach so far and you can't really set a number that everyone can follow because of that reason. The trick in swimming in the amount of times you take a side breath. I was a competitive swimmer for 12 years and I used to only breathe every 4-6 strokes. If you struggle with this, do some lung busters in your work out and you'll gain better control of your breathing. Lung busters are swimming under the water as long as you can without coming up for a breath. I used to be able to do 4 entire lengths of the pool without coming up - most people can't though, maximum is usually 1 1/2 lengths. The strokes are not what determine you to be more efficient, it's the breathing rhythm. (Thing about it, everytime you pull up to breath you are slowing down right there.). When stroking though, a good piece of advice is to reach, pull, and follow through with an "S" formation and finish the pull through by your hip and pull back again out of the water at your waist at an angle. Good luck with this!

Answer 4

Joe Willy Neckbone says, " I don't rightly know the answer to this question, but I will be right here when you ask a question that I do know the answer to."