By Olivier Poirier-Leroy on SwimSwam
Resisted swimming is usually associated with power.
Buckle in the drag chute, tether, or power tower and blow out the pool lights with all of that wattage.
But resisted swimming is also a sneaky way to improve technique.
Whether that’s reducing excess catch-up in your freestyle, spending less time in non-propulsive phases, or—in the case of this set–increasing stroke length–resisted swimming can be a technique correction tool, too.
Here’s how swimmers can use a swim tether to boost stroke length and sprint speed.
The Longer, Faster Stroke Set
For this set you will need a swim tether. Nothing fancy. One of those short StretchCordz tethers works great.
After you’ve done your standard warm-up, here is the main set:
3-5 rounds:
4×10 strokes of freestyle on a swim tether
Medium intensity—this is not power work. Focus on swimming strong and long, using great body position 20s rest between repetitionsTake an extra minute of rest
50 freestyle fast
Take that cleaner stroke and drop it into fast, full-stroke swimming100 easy to reset between rounds
Why This Set Works
Unlike other sprint swim sets, the purpose of using load in this case is not power development.
It’s using the constraint of the tether to promote better force application and body position.
A study by Skorulski et al. (2026) tried this exact set-up—a handful of tethered reps at moderate intensity followed by a fast 50 freestyle.
Swimmers saw some significant improvements:
Swimming speed improved by 0.3s Stroke length increased by 5% Swimmers had more body roll, but roll velocity was unchanged, indicating a more controlled roll Less side-to-side yaw—swimmers wobbled less Reduced hip pitch—swimmers also bounced lessThe tethered reps basically encouraged swimmers to clean up how they applied force and pointed their body forward, leading to smoother sprinting.
That’s the goal with this set.
Swim long and strong on the tether, feel how better force application happens, and then layer that movement pattern all over your full-stroke swimming.
For more sprinty fun, check out these other sets:
A Sprint Set That Builds Stroke Length at High Stroke Rates A Resisted Sprint Set That Builds a Faster 100 Freestyle Sprint Set: Broken Power 50s for Tempo and SpeedAnd if you are a swimmer looking for a step-by-step guide to elite sprint freestyle, showing you everything you need to know about sprint mechanics, training, and more, check out The 50 Freestyle Blueprint below.
Happy sprinting!
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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