By Olivier Poirier-Leroy on SwimSwam
The main set of each swim workout is where we go to build the good stuff to power up our race-day performances.
Whether it’s a sprint set, endless rounds of threshold swimming, or just pure aerobic fun, main sets are where we push our stroke into more conditioned waters.
But for many swimmers, the main set is when they turn their brains off to push through fatigue and discomfort.
As a result, you end up going auto-pilot with your stroke to survive. Stroke length chokes up. Body position sags. Streamlines look like you’re holding a beach ball overhead.
And one simple way to place guardrails around this technique decline is using a stroke count during your main sets.
Stroke Counts Force You to Swim Well
Stroke counts—setting a target number of strokes per 25m or 50m and holding onto it as best you can during the set—force better technique while you’re getting after it.
Because to hit those target numbers, swimmers need to stay on top of all the little things that make for good technique:
Pushing off every wall hard Tight streamline Clean bodyline coming off the walls Not breaking streamline until the last second Holding your dolphin kick count consistent Keeping body position high and fast Swimming long and strong with every stroke, and not just when you are fresh.This type of work is hard.
Fatigue will tear at your stroke from every direction. Try to force you to drop your elbow. Roll the hips more. Slacken your bodyline.
But a stroke count will install a sense of accountability. And it can work.
In a study with recreational and competitive swimmers, they were tasked with self-monitoring stroke count while swimming 100s in a main set.
They ended up taking fewer strokes. When the instruction disappeared, stroke counts generally returned to baseline (Polaha et al., 2004).
Get Better at Stroke Length at Speed
Chasing lower stroke counts when swimming easy is, well, easy. Extend the glide like crazy, kick through every phase of the pull, stretch your body out with more roll, dolphin kick halfway across the pool.
The goal is doing it at speed.
E.g.
Instead of 16×50 freestyle best average Try doing 16×50 freestyle best average while holding 13/14 strokes per 25This isn’t just a middle or distance thing where efficiency is king. Even sprinters need to master the ability of holding lots of water at vigorous intensities.
Staunton et al. (2025) analyzed the stroke kinematics of elite swimmers across strokes and distances and found that stroke length was the strongest predictor of elite-elite sprinting speed.
Everyone can turn the arms over fast—the fastest swimmers in the pool can do it while holding lots of water.
That’s basically what this constraint is doing—placing your stroke into an environment where it has to solve the problem of moving fast with maximum efficiency.
And that’s a killer outcome that works across all strokes and distances.
Build Technique That Survives Fatigue
Doing technique work when you are fresh and ready to rock-and-roll is important.
But the performance decline in competition and the adaptations we need to improve don’t happen when we are fresh.
Layering a stroke count on your main sets gives you the most specific technique work that you can do—at or near race speeds, under mounting fatigue.
If technique is a priority this season—and it probably should be!—slap a stroke count on your main sets.
Because if you can keep your technique together during grueling main sets…
It will be there for you in spades in the crucible of competition.
ABOUT OLIVIER POIRIER-LEROY
Olivier Poirier-Leroy is a former national level swimmer, 2x Olympic Trials qualifier, and author of several books for swimmers, including YourSwimBook, Conquer the Pool, The Dolphin Kick Manual, and most recently, The 50 Freestyle Blueprint.
The book is a beastly 220+ pages of evidence-based insights and practical tips for improving freestyle sprint speed.
It details everything from how to master stroke rate, technique, build a thundering freestyle kick, improve your start and underwaters, and much more.
The 50 Freestyle Blueprint also includes 20 sprint sets to get you started and a bonus guide on how to master the 100 freestyle to complete your sprint preparation.
Learn more about The 50 Freestyle Blueprint here.
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