Tempo and Count Ladder
Swim widths at three tempos – slow, medium, brisk – counting strokes each time, to discover the most efficient balance between stroke rate and stroke length.
- Stages
- Swimming – Stage 9, Swimming – Stage 10
- Difficulty
- Advanced
- Skills
- Stroke Timing, Stroke Efficiency
- Equipment
- None
- Age
- 9–99 years
- Group size
- 1–16 swimmers
- Time
- About 6 minutes
- In a lesson
- Skill Development 1, Skill Development 2
- Shared by
- SwimShare Resource
Safety notes
- Stagger swimmers so brisk widths don't cause collisions.
What it develops
- Use stroke count and tempo to swim efficiently
- Front crawl technique held over longer distances
How to run it
- Width 1: slow, long strokes – count them.
- Width 2: medium tempo – count again.
- Width 3: brisk tempo – count again.
- Swimmers decide which tempo gave the best speed for the effort, then swim a final width at their chosen tempo.
Teaching cues
- Faster arms often means shorter strokes.
- Find your sweet spot.
- Keep technique at every tempo.
Make it easier
- Two tempos only (slow and medium).
Make it harder
- Use backstroke or breaststroke as well.
- Time each width and compare speed with count.
Common faults
- Brisk tempo becomes thrashing.
- Slow tempo stalls between strokes.
Corrections
- 'Brisk, not frantic – keep your catch.'
- 'Slow but always moving.'
Assistant / L1 role
- Count strokes for one swimmer per width and tell them their number as they arrive.