How to Swim Faster
Unleash your speed like never before. Whether you want to beat your own best times, leave your competitors behind, or push yourself to new limits — this is the definitive guide to becoming a faster competitive swimmer.
In this guide, you'll learn how to swim faster through:
- Improving swimming speed and identifying your starting point
- Perfecting stroke technique across all four strokes
- Mastering breathing technique for every distance
- Building swimming endurance progressively and safely
- Improving your starts off the blocks
- Optimizing turns and underwater phases
- Setting outcome, performance & process goals
- Creating a periodized training plan
Improving Swimming Speed
One of the first things that comes to mind when thinking about how to swim faster is figuring out how to improve swimming speed. Speed is a measure of how fast you're going, calculated simply by dividing the distance swam by the time it took.
Swimming faster essentially means completing a given distance in a shorter time. Every aspect of the swim — from starts and turns, to underwater phases and breakouts, to stroke technique and endurance — plays a role in determining speed.
Starts and Transitions
Your starts and push-offs are the two points in your swim where speed is at its peak. Maximizing the acceleration generated here, retaining momentum through your underwaters, and transferring speed onto your breakout creates a compounding advantage over your entire race.
The key is consistently executing proper starts, turns, underwaters, and breakouts in practice — even when you're not training for time. Sloppy habits in practice become race-day liabilities.
Stroke Technique
Off your breakouts, stroke technique and endurance take over as the primary contributors to speed. Swimming faster isn't about moving your arms faster or kicking harder — it's about improving technique and maintaining good form as pace increases. Poor form increases drag, decreases efficiency, and raises injury risk.
Identifying Your Starting Point
The first step to increasing swimming speed is identifying which area offers the most room for improvement. Weak underwaters, slow turns, fading endurance, or inconsistent technique — start there. Track everything, no matter how minor, to determine what's working and what needs to change.
Perfecting Stroke Technique
Technique plays a two-fold critical role in fast swimming:
- Minimizes drag — the opposing force working against your forward momentum
- Improves propulsion — the driving force pushing you through the water
The 3 Types of Drag in Swimming
Universal Technique Principles to Reduce Drag
- Streamline off the walls. Fingers stacked, elbows pressed in, head down, core tight, legs together, toes pointed — the tightest possible shape to minimize water resistance.
- Maintain good body alignment. Stay horizontal near the surface regardless of stroke. Even slight misalignment — head too far down, elevated, or hips sinking — blocks forward momentum.
- Master your breathing. Minimize the time and movement needed to complete each breath without disrupting alignment or stroke flow.
- Never drop your elbows. Dropping elbows at any point in the pull (including recovery) increases drag instead of generating propulsion.
Propulsion: The Way Forward
Propulsion comes from kicks, pulls, rolls, rotations, undulations, and arm recovery. The instinct is to kick harder or pull with more force — but in the water, you can't muscle your way to speed. Strength only contributes to a faster swim when paired with correct form and good stroke efficiency.
Good technique ensures a firm grip of the water, positions the body to push water in the right direction, and uses the momentum of pulls and kicks to generate forward speed — allowing you to swim faster without expending proportionally more energy.
Breathing Technique
Once breathing becomes automatic, it tends to move to the back of a swimmer's mind. But continuously refining breathing technique is an added advantage — you'll move through the water more seamlessly, prevent unnecessary drag, and retain more speed from each stroke cycle.
There are 4 universal elements of breathing technique that apply across all strokes:
Head Position
Keep a neutral head position when your face is in the water to maintain body alignment. This minimizes the movement required for each breath. For butterfly, breaststroke, and freestyle, use your strokes as the main driving force of the breath — not your neck or head.
Breathing Out
Exhale completely before your face breaks the surface. Even if you've held your breath too long and feel like you've run out of air, fully exhaling allows you to immediately begin inhaling as soon as your mouth clears the water. Exhaling at the surface increases drag and breaks your rhythm.
Timing
Breathing at the wrong moment causes a pause in pulls or kicks, or throws the body out of alignment. Your breathing is off-sync if it disrupts the flow of your strokes in any way.
Breathing Pattern
Aside from breaststroke, where you breathe every pull, your pattern depends on stroke, distance, and personal strategy. Whatever your pattern, keep it consistent for a given event — this sets rhythm and pace. Even in backstroke, consistent breath timing helps sync all movements.
Freestyle
Freestyle is the most efficient competitive stroke — it generates good speed and can be sustained over distances ranging from 50m to 1500m in a pool, and up to 25km in open water. It's also the most individually adaptable, meaning strategies that work for one swimmer may not work for another, especially across different event distances.
While you can swim freestyle effectively in different ways, there are three essentials for swimming it faster:
Don't Drop Your Elbows
The ongoing debate between the S-pull, straight arm pull, and early vertical forearm all comes down to one shared principle: the catch. The catch — the initial grip on the water at the start of the pull — is a major factor in how much propulsion each stroke generates.
No matter which pull you use, keep your elbows higher than your hands throughout the stroke. Collapsing your elbows provides less propulsive force and increases drag.
Test Different Pull Types at Different Distances
Each pull has its own tradeoffs: the S-pull generates least propulsion but is easiest on shoulders; straight arm enables more powerful strokes and faster tempo but is harder on shoulders; early vertical forearm minimizes drag with strong propulsion but takes longer per stroke. Sprint events may favour straight arm; distance events may favour EVF. Find what works for you through deliberate experimentation.
Maintain Good Body Position
Stay horizontal and parallel to the pool bottom, even through the rotation. Neutral head, tight core, pointed toes. Time your breath so your face and recovering arm re-enter the water simultaneously. Avoid arm crossover in recovery. Keep kicks just breaking surface without lifting high or sinking hips.
Breaststroke
Breaststroke generates the slowest speed among competitive strokes, and demands significant coordination and strength to perform well. However, by improving technique, substantial speed gains are achievable.
Maximize Your Pullouts
Breaststroke is the only stroke allowing a full pull, breaststroke kick, and dolphin kick underwater before the first stroke — making pullout optimization essential. Capitalize on push-off momentum with a tight streamline, initiate the pullout before speed tapers, and execute your dolphin kick either before the initial pulldown or near the end.
Recent studies suggest timing the dolphin kick before the pulldown produces greater speed, but both approaches can be effective. Complete the down kick by the time you finish the pulldown to maximize momentum. Time your breakout so your first stroke hits when you're neither too deep nor already at the surface.
Develop Your Kicks
Most breaststroke propulsion comes from the kick, but improper form — knees too wide, heels to chest, breaking surface with feet — creates the greatest drag. Bring heels up quickly (this phase generates no forward speed), flex feet with toes out, push water back to bring legs together. Always complete the full kick cycle before starting the next — the most propulsive force is generated at the finish. Then develop ankle flexibility and leg strength to increase power.
Coordinate Upper and Lower Body Timing
The pull-breathe-kick-recovery timing determines whether your breaststroke is fluid or choppy. Breathe during the in-sweep with a steady head, using the catch to lift out of the water. Get heels up quickly to finish the kick and shoot forward in recovery. Build propulsive force from each pull and kick cycle to retain speed through the brief transition between strokes.
Backstroke
Swimming purely on your back creates unique challenges with spatial awareness and water feel. But mastering backstroke technique — while tricky — is absolutely achievable with deliberate focus on three key areas.
Pull with a Shallow Catch
A good catch in backstroke ensures you maximize propulsion from your pull by getting a firm hold of the water. Contrary to older beliefs, a deeper catch doesn't push more water back — it actually slows stroke tempo without increasing distance per stroke. A shallow catch is ideal when paired with proper form and rotation timing.
Bend your elbow when the hand enters the water (slightly outside the shoulder, pinky first, palm facing out), so your forearm and hand face the back of the pool. Keep fingers pointed to your side and thumb just below the surface. From this catch position, push straight back, begin to rotate, and finish with your hand by your hips.
Perfect the Form and Timing of Rotation
Good rotation timing sets up a proper hand entry and catch position. Remaining flat forces extra time to position your arms, and puts excessive strain on your shoulders. About 30 degrees of rotation from the surface is ideal — more than that slows stroke rate without producing stronger pulls. Hips and shoulders rotate together, maintaining a tight line from head to toe, with shoulders and arms moving in sync.
Focus on Body Alignment
Head still and relaxed, looking straight up. Hips and legs close to the surface, even through rotation. If your upper body skews to one side, check for arm crossover or too-wide entry on entry. If your hips sink, check your kicks — flexed toes, bent knees too far back, or too-wide kick pattern all cause sinking. Good backstroke kicks start from the hips, with a slight knee bend and a finishing flick from the feet.
Butterfly
Butterfly is the stroke most swimmers find daunting — even a few laps can be exhausting, making it difficult to train for speed. But three focused areas of improvement can make a significant difference in your fly.
Pay Special Attention to Your Underwater Kicks
The moments immediately following starts and push-offs are the two fastest points in any swim. Powerful underwater dolphin kicks retain this speed and carry it into the breakout. Keep a tight streamline — shoulders still to minimize drag — while actively engaging core, hips, and legs on both the up kick and down kick. Flex your feet and complete each kick in front of your body for maximum propulsion.
Be Mindful of Your Body Position
Even slight changes in body position significantly impact drag in butterfly. Use hips and core to power kicks and prevent the lower body from sinking. Always hit your second dolphin kick — failing to do so drops your hips. Lead with your chest, not your head, to drive forward rather than up. Minimize head movement and stay low when breathing to maintain alignment.
Maximize the Efficiency of Pulls and Kicks
Keep elbows high for the catch, push arms all the way past your hips to finish the pull, and keep the recovery relaxed. The real key in butterfly is timing — syncing your pull with the first and second dolphin kick so the force from each movement carries its momentum to the next. Incorrect timing doesn't just reduce propulsion; it dramatically increases drag, making every stroke harder to complete.
Building Endurance
Swimming endurance is the ability to sustain a faster pace for a longer period of time without losing technique. Building endurance is a positive feedback loop: the more you swim, the more endurance improves; better endurance enables you to swim longer and absorb higher-intensity training, which develops speed. Whether sprinter or distance swimmer, endurance training is critical to swimming faster.
Be Patient
Increasing stamina takes time. Studies show illness likelihood increases by 50–70% with intensive training loads — don't rush sudden increases in volume or intensity. Build gradually, allowing time to perfect form at faster speeds and improve stroke efficiency. Incorporate recovery days: they aren't a setback, they're what makes training sustainable and protects against overtraining and burnout.
Stay Consistent
Show up regularly and hold yourself accountable to a realistic plan. Some days will be harder than others — missing a session occasionally is fine, but get back to it immediately. Consistency means putting in the hours, sleeping adequately, eating right, and showing up ready. It doesn't mean doing the same workout every day.
Switch Up Your Workouts
Use HIIT, long continuous swims, drills, dryland training, strength work, and cross training. Vary distances, durations, and intensities to train at different heart rates. This prevents accommodation, keeps training interesting, and builds a more complete athletic base. Have a plan so variation is deliberate, not random.
Improving Starts
The moment you leave the blocks sets the tone for your entire race. There are two types of starts for individual events:
- Grab Start — Both feet side by side at the front of the block, hands either inside or outside the feet.
- Track Start — One foot at the front, the other at the back or on the inclined rear kick plate.
Choose the start that gets you farthest off the blocks the fastest. Then optimize all three phases:
The Blocks — From Ready Stance to Toes Leaving the Block
Ready position and weight distribution heavily influence take-off speed and power. Front-weighted starts tend to produce faster start times; rear-weighted starts tend to generate more forward velocity. Either way: slight knee bend, hips higher than shoulders, fingers and toes gripping the edge. For track starts using the kick plate, position the plate so your back leg bends at approximately 90 degrees for optimal weight distribution. Recruit your core and arms to increase explosiveness and get into streamline position faster.
The Flight — From Feet Leaving the Block to Water Entry
Get into a tight streamline as quickly as possible to carry take-off momentum cleanly into the water. Streamline in the air is also essential for a clean entry — landing too deep or too shallow off the surface creates added drag and reduces the efficiency of the subsequent underwater phase.
The Underwater — From Water Entry to the Breakout
After a properly executed take-off, forward velocity briefly peaks. A great start isn't just about leaving the blocks fastest or hitting the water farthest — it's about maximizing and carrying that momentum into the underwater. Maintain a tight streamline, begin dolphin kicks or your breaststroke pullout before you start slowing down, and time your breakout precisely. Breaking out too early or too late loses the acceleration advantage and creates additional drag.
Optimizing Turns
Turns occupy a small portion of each lap, but in a sport where fractions of a second decide outcomes, mastering transitions off the walls is critical. The time saved from a quicker turn combined with the momentum gained creates real, measurable race improvement.
First and most importantly: treat every wall in practice like a race. Using walls as micro-rest opportunities creates the single biggest barrier to fast turns. Executing a fast flip turn needs to be muscle memory before race day.
Accelerate as You Approach the Wall
Keep your head down — don't glide in. The more speed you carry into the wall, the more momentum you can leverage to turn faster. Decelerating on approach is one of the most common and most costly mistakes swimmers make.
Count Your Strokes
Use the T-line at the bottom as your reference. Know exactly how many strokes it takes to reach the wall from that point without looking up. This eliminates hesitation, gliding, or timing errors in your approach.
Remove All Unnecessary Movements
Don't breathe on final approach strokes. Don't look up at the wall. Recruit arms and core to add power into the flip — but keep head, arms, and legs tight to reduce drag. The tighter you are, the faster you roll. Throw your legs straight onto the wall and push off immediately once footed. Avoid twisting on your side until after the push-off.
Get into Streamline as Quickly as Possible
Take up as little space as possible during and after the push-off to minimize drag and maximize the speed generated. Streamline is your fastest position — get there fast and hold it until your kick carries you into your breakout.
Setting Goals
With so much to work on, it's easy to feel overwhelmed or try to improve everything at once. Neither works. The best approach is arriving at each training session focused on specific targets. That starts with setting the right kind of swimming goals across three levels:
Outcome Goals
Big-picture goals — major milestones and long-term results you aim to achieve throughout the season. Examples: set a meet record at state championships, qualify for the national team, beat a personal best in the 100 fly by season end.
These are largely outside your direct control — external factors, other competitors, and day-of variables all play a role. What matters is that you've done everything you can in preparation and focused on what you can control.
Performance Goals
Benchmark goals that track progress towards your outcome goals. For the outcome goal of improving your 100 fly personal best, performance goals might include: consistently completing a 50 fly in 25 strokes or less; underwater dolphin kick to the 15m mark in under 5 seconds; achieving negative splits at race pace this month.
These give you early warning signals — if progress isn't where it should be, you have time to adjust before the competition.
Process Goals
The specific, daily actionable steps that build toward performance and outcome goals. Examples: attend every practice including morning and afternoon sessions; approach each set with proper mindset; execute every turn and underwater at full effort; get adequate sleep each night.
Process goals are entirely within your control. Consistently hitting them is the most reliable path to achieving your outcome goals.
The SMART Framework for Swimming Goals
Create a Training Plan
Consistently showing up to the pool helps, but swimming random sets does not guarantee faster results. Your time at the pool is finite — a structured plan ensures every session has purpose and maximizes improvement.
Periodization
Periodization is the process of structuring a training plan so athletes reach peak performance at key competitions. A periodized plan divides training into progressive cycles, each developing specific skills before moving on — building fitness systematically while preventing plateaus and overtraining.
Seasonal / Yearly Plan
The longest cycle — covers the full period from training start to final major competition. Note your key competitions and plan backward from those dates. Each macrocycle ends at a major competition; the next begins immediately after.
Training Blocks (6–8 weeks)
3–4 mesocycles within each macrocycle, each with a specific objective. Each block gives the body enough time to adapt to physical changes and translate them into performance gains.
Weekly Structure
Typically one week in length with a targeted daily focus. Volume, intensity, and energy systems vary day to day across endurance, sprints, strength, lactate threshold, and lactate production work.
Injury Prevention
Peak performance requires being injury-free. Even minor injuries are major setbacks. When mapping your plan, ensure changes in training load happen gradually — from day to day, phase to phase, and cycle to cycle. Sudden, drastic load increases are a leading cause of injury and illness in swimmers.
Build in enough variety to avoid plateauing, but leave sufficient time for your body to adapt to each stimulus. Your plan is a framework, not a fixed contract — evaluate progress continuously and fine-tune as needed. The best training plan is the one that gets you to race day healthy and at peak fitness.
Frequently Asked Questions
How can I swim faster immediately?
Focus first on reducing drag: maintain a tight streamline off every wall, keep your body horizontal, and minimize head movement on each breath. These adjustments produce the fastest immediate gains without requiring any change in fitness level.
What is the fastest swimming stroke?
Freestyle (front crawl) is the fastest competitive stroke, followed by backstroke, butterfly, and breaststroke. Freestyle's alternating arm action and efficient body rotation generate the best speed-to-energy ratio, which is why it's used in relays and spans the widest distance range in competition.
How long does it take to get faster at swimming?
Most swimmers see measurable improvements within 4–8 weeks of consistent, technique-focused training. Significant speed gains typically emerge over one full training season (3–6 months) with a properly structured periodized program and regular tracking of metrics.
Does kicking harder make you swim faster?
Not necessarily. Efficient kick technique matters more than raw power. Kicking from the hips with pointed toes and completing each kick cycle generates more propulsion with less energy than kicking harder with poor form. Develop technique first, then add strength and power.
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