How can I swim a faster 100m freestyle?

Work on five things in this order: reduce drag with a level head and body position, anchor the catch early, hold your stroke length as you speed up, train at a known threshold pace so the 100 does not start too fast, and push off the wall in a tight streamline. Then test one honest 100m every four to six weeks and compare.

Should I just swim more to get a faster 100m?

More yardage at one comfortable speed rarely lowers a 100m time. The time drops when sessions have different jobs: technique work that cuts drag, threshold repeats at a known pace, and a few short, fast, fully rested repeats. See the pace guide for a 12-week example.

Is a faster 100m about fitness or technique?

Both, and technique comes first for most adult swimmers. Drag costs energy on every length, so a lower-drag stroke makes the same effort carry you further. Fitness work then lifts the pace you can hold for the full 100m. If your stroke falls apart when you speed up, fix that before adding harder sets.

How often should I time a 100m freestyle?

Every four to six weeks is enough. Warm up properly, swim one all-out 100m from a push-off and write down the time and your stroke count per length. Timing it every week mostly measures how tired you are.

How to Swim a Faster 100m Freestyle

Q: How do I pace a 100m freestyle?

Find your Critical Swim Speed (CSS) from a short test, then use it as the anchor. Swim the first 50 at a pace you could repeat on the second 50, and treat the last 25 as the place to spend what is left. Starting the first length much faster than the rest usually costs more time on the way back than it gains.

Swim a faster 100m freestyle: cut drag, anchor the catch, hold your stroke length, own your pace and push off the wall well. Plus a 1,350m practice set.

To swim a faster 100m freestyle, work on five levers: cut drag with a level head and body position, anchor the catch early, hold your stroke length as you speed up, train at a known threshold pace so you do not start too fast, and push off every wall in a tight streamline. Fix them in that order, then test one honest 100m every four to six weeks.

The five levers of a faster 100m freestyle

A 100m in a 25m pool is four lengths and three turns, so it rewards a low-drag stroke, a pace you can hold and clean walls. These levers come from the technique basics already covered in our other guides; each one links to the full version.

Lever 1: Why does drag matter more than power?

Because drag costs energy on every stroke, at every speed. In most cases the cause of low hips sits above the waist: the head is lifted. Point your eyes down, press the chest gently into the water and kick small from the hips. Test it with two lengths using a pull buoy and two without; if your legs float with the buoy and sink without it, work on position, not on a stronger kick.

The body position guide has seven drills for this, and the freestyle technique guide puts it in context with rotation, kick and breathing.

Lever 2 and 3: How do I use the catch without losing stroke length?

Bend the elbow early, anchor the forearm and pull yourself past it. Faster arms with a short catch just move you less per stroke. Use stroke count as your check: count the strokes per length at easy pace, then at 100m pace. A small rise is normal; a big jump means the tempo is too high for your catch. The swimming drills guide has the catch-up drill, and distance per stroke is covered in the DPS guide , and fewer strokes at a much slower time does not count as better.

Short, fast and fully rested repeats then teach the speed itself. Keep them to 12.5m or 25m, rest until you can go fast again and stop the set when your stroke shrinks. If you want more of that, the resisted sprint training guide builds it with drag equipment.

Lever 4: How do I pace a 100m freestyle?

Anchor it to a number. Take a CSS test (the CSS test guide explains how), then use that pace for threshold 100s on a fixed rest. Swim the first 50 at a pace you could repeat on the second 50. Starting the first length much faster than the rest usually costs more on the way back than it gains. If you are not improving at all, the cause is often one speed for every session, as covered in why am I not getting faster .

For a full 12-week example with technique days and threshold days, read how to lower your swim pace per 100m , and use the swim pace calculator to turn a time into a pace.

Lever 5: How do I get more from the walls?

In a 25m pool you leave the wall four times in a 100m, counting the start, so the streamline is worth practising. Push off with the arms locked overhead, hold the line and kick only while it feels faster than swimming. The distance you carry depends on your speed and comfort, so surface when the glide stops helping, not at a fixed mark. The flip turn guide has the progression if your turns are still slow.

A 1,350m practice set for a faster 100m

This session touches every lever once: stroke count in the warm-up, the catch in the drill, CSS pace in the threshold 100s, speed in the fast 25s and a timed 100m at the end. Total distance: 1,350 metres in a 25m pool, about 40 to 50 minutes with rest. Start the timed 100m only if the fast 25s felt clean.

Run it every two weeks as a check and fill the weeks between with technique and threshold sessions. Load it into the free workout builder to change the rest or distances, or open the exact set with the button above.

Faster 100m practice set

100m freestyle speed · 1350m total

300m Easy freestyle warm-up — GA1 · Head down, long strokes. Count your strokes per length once so you know your easy number.
4 × 50m Catch drill, then swim — TU · Rest 20s between repeats · Catch-up drill on the first 25, normal freestyle on the second. Keep the same stroke length on the swim.
4 × 100m Threshold 100s at CSS pace — WA · Rest 20s between repeats · Even splits. Push off the wall in a tight streamline every length. If the last 25 falls apart, lengthen the rest next time.
6 × 25m Fast 25s, full rest — SA · Rest 45s between repeats · All-out from a push-off. Rest long enough to go fast again, and stop the set when your stroke length shrinks.
100m Honest 100m — SA · Take two easy minutes first. Swim the first 50 controlled, hold form through the third 25 and spend what is left on the last one. Write down the time.
200m Easy cool-down — ReKom · Any stroke.

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Written and maintained by AquaPlan Team, Swim Training & Product.

The AquaPlan team builds swim-training software for structured pool workouts, Garmin-compatible FIT export, printable workout PDFs, and progress tracking.

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