Welcome to the Calculator Value. If you are a coach or just a swimmer looking for a simple way to track stroke rate that tells the performance of a swimmer in the pool, you are in the right place.
Stroke rate tells you how fast your arms are cycling through in the water, and it’s an important part of swimming speed.
It simply means how many strokes you take in water in one minute, and it is expressed as SPM (strokes per minute) . If you are new to swimming, swimming stroke means specific technique of using the arms, legs, and body to push yourself through the water.
For instance, if a swimmer takes 30 strokes in 20 seconds, his SPM is 90, meaning he completes 90 strokes per minute.
Our calculator is quite simple, enter any two values and it automatically computes the third. Here are the inputs the calculator uses:
If you are curious to know the calculation behind the scene or want to calculate manually. In this section, we will show an equation used to calculate stroke rate manually.
We will show you three formulas that you can use to calculate any of three variable: stroke count, time, and stroke rate (SPM).
Formula 1: Calculate stroke rate
If you know the stroke count and the time, use this formula:
Stroke rate (SPM) = stroke count / (time in seconds / 60)
Formula 2: Calculate stroke count
If you know stroke rate and time, use the following formula to get stroke count:
Stroke count = stroke rate × (time in seconds / 60)
Formula 3: Find time
If you already know the stroke rate and stroke count, use this formula to find the time:
Time in minutes = stroke count ÷ stroke rate
Keep reading — below we will walk through a simple real-world example.
Calculating stroke rate is fairly simple, we will use a real-world example that will help you understand better.
Let's assume a swimmer takes 36 strokes in 24 seconds.
Let’s apply the formula to calculate stroke rate:
Stroke rate = 36 ÷ (24 ÷ 60)
Stroke rate = 36 ÷ 0.4
Stroke rate = 90 SPM
That’s how simple it is to calculate stroke rate.
Read the following table for general stroke rate ranges for reference, but remember, every swimmer is different, so use these only as general guidelines.
| Stroke Type | Recreational Swimmer | Competitive Swimmer |
|---|---|---|
| Freestyle Sprint | 60 to 80 SPM | 90 to 110 SPM |
| Freestyle Distance | 50 to 70 SPM | 70 to 90 SPM |
| Butterfly | 45 to 60 SPM | 60 to 80 SPM |
| Breaststroke | 30 to 45 SPM | 40 to 60 SPM |
| Backstroke | 55 to 75 SPM | 75 to 100 SPM |
Remember that there is not a single perfect stroke number, but here is the common ranges based on experience and overall fitness:
40 to 70 SPM60 to 80 SPM90 to 110 SPM70 to 90 SPM