I'm in the same boat - I have a very low stroke rate which is only just over 50 even at race pace. There is always a tradeoff when you increase your rate as most people find their stroke slips and it's hard to maintain distance per stroke. I think that a faster turnover requires more fitness in the fast twitch muscle fibers, but you need to build a strong slow twitch base first or you won't be able to clear the lactate. That being said, doing sets such as USRPT or lactate sets will help but keep mindful you aren't sacrificing stroke efficiency for a higher stroke rate. I have learned to live with my relatively slow rate, and focus on middle distance events where it's an asset. I'm just not built to be a sprinter - a lot of it is the genetic roll of the dice.

Re your push pull, drills that help with each phase of the stroke are helpful ie catch and finish etc. Straight arm pulldowns in the gym or using stretch cords are good too.

Also, get someone to video you to make sure you aren't overgliding which creates a dead spot in the front of the stroke.

Try some sets instead of a long steady swim. Like 5 or 10x50 m fast with 1-2 min of rest between. Basically practise fast swimming and gradually increase the fast reps or distance and/ or decrease rest time.

daj150 wrote: »

I am incredibly slow at swimming. I was talking with some people I swim with, and they noticed my form looks good, but my arm rotation (SPM) is really slow; about 1/3 of theirs at best. When I tried getting a faster rotation (still kept it smooth and even), I noticed a definite jump in pace, but my shoulders tired out insanely fast. Anyone have a few workouts they recommend to improve this? Or to help with my push/pull? Thanks!

Let me ask you what is your spm? and what is your pace? Increasing speed not only by increasing spm, it depends on many factors and spm is one of them. I was at the pool two days before and noticed for 30m my spl is 9.1 stroke cycle and time was 20s with high effort, and for the same length I did slow lap at 8.8 spl at 24s, you can see not too much different in stroke per length, but considerable in time per lap. The reason is i give much power to other aspects, in other words you can develop your technic to cover your low spm.