The fastest way to improve swimming speed is to remove drag, not add effort. Water resistance rises with the square of your speed, so every centimetre your hips drop or your head lifts costs you more than any amount of extra kicking will give back. Fix body position first, then stroke length, then stroke rate. In that order, and never the reverse.
I have watched thousands of adult swimmers try to get faster by trying harder. It almost never works. They finish the length redder in the face and no sooner off the wall. Speed in water is an engineering problem before it is a fitness problem.
Why Effort Is the Wrong Lever
Double your speed through water and you face roughly four times the resistance. A swimmer is not a runner. On land, more power reliably means more speed. In water, more power mostly means more turbulence.
This is why a technically clean swimmer at 60% effort will hold a faster pace than a strong athlete thrashing at 95%. The clean swimmer has removed the thing that was slowing them down. The strong athlete is fighting it.
So the question is not “how do I generate more force?” It is “where am I losing speed?”
Where Adult Swimmers Lose Speed
- Sinking legs. The biggest single cost. Usually caused by lifting the head to breathe or looking forward instead of down. Press the chest lightly, look at the pool floor, and the legs come up on their own.
- A crossing entry. The hand enters past the centre line, the body snakes, and the hips wag. Enter in line with the shoulder.
- A dropped elbow. The forearm slips backwards through the water instead of anchoring against it. There is nothing to pull on.
- Breathing with a lifted head. Rotate to breathe, keeping one goggle in the water. Lifting the head drops the hips instantly.
- Dead walls. Most recreational swimmers lose more time on turns and push-offs than on the swimming itself. Streamline off every wall, arms locked, head hidden.
- A wide, scissoring kick. The kick should stay inside the body’s shadow. A kick that breaks that line is a brake.
The Two Numbers That Actually Predict Your Speed
Speed = stroke length × stroke rate. Everything else is commentary.
Count your strokes for one length, and time it. Now try to swim the same time with one fewer stroke. Then two fewer. This is the oldest speed exercise in the sport and it still exposes everything.
| Priority | What you change | Potential benefit | Progress cue |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Body position | Head, hips, chest pressure | Can reduce drag | Hips stay nearer the surface at an easy pace |
| 2. Stroke length | Catch, elbow, entry line | Can improve efficiency | Stroke stays controlled without overreaching |
| 3. Walls and turns | Streamline, push-off depth | Can improve each push-off | Streamline remains stable off the wall |
| 4. Stroke rate | Tempo, turnover | Can improve pace when technique holds | Tempo rises without shortened, rushed strokes |
| 5. Conditioning | Interval training, strength | Supports repeatable effort | Pace remains steadier across suitable sets |
Notice that fitness sits last. Not because it does not matter, but because fitness applied to a leaky stroke produces a faster leak.
A Session That Works on the Right Things
- Warm-up. 400 m easy, mixed strokes, no clock.
- Position drills. 6 × 25 m kicking on your side, one arm extended, eyes down. Rest as needed.
- Catch drills. 6 × 25 m sculling or single-arm freestyle, thinking about a high elbow.
- Stroke counting. 8 × 50 m. Count strokes on the first length, hold that count on the second. Fail, and swim it again slower.
- Speed with form. 8 × 25 m fast, with full rest. Stop the set the moment your stroke count climbs — tired sloppy sprinting teaches sloppy sprinting.
- Cool-down. 200 m easy.
Two or three sessions a week, with at least one full rest day. Adaptation happens between sessions, not during them.
Common Mistakes
- Living in paddles and fins. They make you feel fast and hide the fault you were meant to fix. Use them sparingly.
- Sprinting when tired. Speed work belongs at the start of a set, not the end.
- Grinding out long slow distance and expecting speed. Different stimulus, different result.
- Chasing stroke rate before stroke length. Faster arms on a short stroke just means more strokes per length.
- Doing hypoxic sets. Restricted-breathing and breath-hold training is still popular and still risky — see below.
- Ignoring shoulder soreness. Freestyle volume plus paddles is the classic route to an irritated rotator cuff. Reduce volume and see a physiotherapist. Do not push through it.
A Word on Breath-Holding Sets
Hypoxic training — swimming lengths on a restricted breathing pattern, or doing underwater distance — remains common in squads that should know better. Repeated breath-holds after exertion suppress the urge to breathe while your oxygen keeps falling. The result can be shallow-water blackout: unconsciousness with no warning, no struggle, and often no witness. It has killed experienced, fit swimmers.
You do not need it. Breathing rhythm can be trained through tempo work and bilateral breathing at normal intensity. If a coach programmes underwater distance for you, ask why, and never attempt it alone or unsupervised.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long before I see improvement?
There is no reliable fixed timeline. Some changes are easy to understand but take repeated practice to hold under fatigue. Track your own cues: steadier alignment, a repeatable stroke count and an easier pace at the same effort.
Do fins help you swim faster?
They help you feel a good body position and train ankle flexibility. They do not build the skill of holding that position without them. Short fins, short sets.
Should I swim more often or swim harder?
Neither frequency nor intensity has one universal answer. Choose sessions you can recover from, keep technique controlled, and increase workload only when your health, schedule and response support it.
Does strength training make you faster in the pool?
Strength work may support swimming performance, but its value depends on the swimmer, programme and technique. It should complement—not replace—efficient movement and appropriate pool practice.
Is stroke count the same for everyone?
No. Taller swimmers with longer levers naturally take fewer strokes. Compare your count against your own count, never against the person in the next lane.
Can a coach really tell what I am doing wrong?
A coach can provide an external view of body position, timing and breathing, sometimes with video. What can be identified and improved varies by swimmer and by the conditions in which the stroke is observed.
Next Steps
If you would like individual feedback on body position, timing or pacing, enquire about a private swimming lesson. Share your current distance, main difficulty and preferred pool so the enquiry can be matched to an appropriate next step.
For competition calendars and club pathways in Singapore, see Sport Singapore.
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