Music is one of the best ways to sprinkle some more performance on your swim training.
From increasing swim endurance to reducing rates of perceived effort, there are lots of benefits to swimming with music.
The rhythm of music can also have an impact on how you move your arms through the water, making it a useful tool for swimmers looking to increase and maintain stroke tempo.
Here’s how music impacts stroke tempo and how swimmers can use this knowledge to swim faster and smarter.
Faster Music Increases Stroke Tempo
Experienced swimmers are familiar with the concept of tempo training—hitting a specific arm turnover frequency with each length.
Typically, this is done with a simple metronome, the most popular of which for swimmers is the FINIS Tempo Trainer Pro. It’s a simple device clips to our goggle straps and beeps at a desired tempo (stroke cycles per minute).
The idea is that we sync our arms to the beeping and get better at locking on a desired tempo.
The same concept appears to map with music.
A study (Aburto-Corona et al., 2022) had a group of recreational swimmers to a 12-minute test under three conditions:
- No music
- Music set to 140 beats per minute
- Music set to 120 beats per minute
When BPM was cranked, swimmers used a higher stroke rate. What makes this noteworthy was that there was no instruction from researchers to sync their arms to the music—swimmers naturally drifted into higher stroke rates with the 140bpm music.
(And yes, the high-paced music also increased swimming endurance—they swam furthest in this condition, so they weren’t just spinning their arms.)
Really Fast Music Supercharges Stroke Tempo
We’ve seen what 140bpm music can do to stroke tempo, but what about when we further crank the dial on tempo?
A small research project done at the University of Lethbridge tested this out over four weeks, with songs getting progressively more energetic as the trial went on.
Without music, the group of five swimmers, who normally used stroke tempos of 37-40 strokes per minute, increased to 42-43 listening to classic psych-up songs like Eminem’s “Till I Collapse.”
See also: Hard Swim Practice? Recover Faster with Some Chill Music
But it was in the final week of the project, when swimmers listened to a really fast song—The Piano Guys’ “Code Name Vivaldi” at a supercharged velocity of 160bpm—that some swimmers saw stroke rates skyrocket into the mid-50s.
The swimmers also reported responding more strongly to the rhythm than the tempo, volume, or lyrics.
Music Helps You Hold Onto Stroke Rate Under Fatigue
A high stroke rate when you are fresh and ready to rock-and-roll is one thing. But what about holding onto those elevated stroke rates deeper into your swims?
In the Aburto-Corona study, stroke frequency declined significantly during the second half of the time trial in both the 120bpm and no music conditions. But the 140bpm better maintained tempo as the swim went on.
The difference between conditions accelerated—the 140- and 120-bpm conditions were 2.55 strokes per minute apart at halfway. This grew to 3.71 by the end.
And as mentioned in the previous point, the high BPM swimmers covered more distance in the swim trial, again suggesting that they weren’t just flailing their arms, they were using higher stroke rates and going faster.
How to Use Music for Stroke Tempo Training
Instead of plugging in a playlist of speed metal, be a little more surgical and use music to explore stroke rates slightly above and slightly below your natural tempo.
This is similar to constraint-based stroke rate training, where swimmers deliberately manipulate turnover while continuing to swim their normal stroke.
Research with swimmers (Silva et al., 2022) showed that when swimmers did this kind of training over eight weeks, they increased stroke length (1.81m to 1.92m per stroke cycle) and swim velocity.
Start by finding a musical rhythm that matches your preferred stroke rate—the turnover that feels most natural when swimming fast.
Then build a short playlist that moves above and below that rhythm.
18×50 freestyle at 85% effort
- 6 reps – At preferred stroke tempo
- 6 reps – Slightly lower tempo
- 6 reps – Slightly higher tempo
This is a simplified example to give you a sense of how you can play on both sides of your preferred tempo.
The magic in this kind of training is playing with different tempos at the same intensity, so try to go the same speed/effort on all of the reps.
Take sufficient rest to maintain that speed and give your body a chance to explore how to displace more water (on the lower tempo reps) and master the increased coordination demands (on the higher tempo reps).
Over time, you will become more efficient, learn to operate in those higher stroke rates without spinning out, and find new territory where stroke rate and stroke length meet to produce your fastest swimming.
Tempo Training with Music vs Tempo Trainer
Music isn’t necessarily a replacement for a dedicated tempo trainer.
Especially as it’s not as fine tuned in terms of assigning frequency. But while it’s less precise, it’s definitely more enjoyable and flexible.
As much as I love how powerful the FINIS Tempo Trainer is for playing around with tempo and turnover, listening to a beep test through my skull has its limits in terms of enjoyment.
To get the most of music as a tempo tool, invest in a set of headphones for swimming or waterproof MP3 player—particularly of the bone-conduction variety that plays music crisply and won’t get tangled up in your goggle straps.
Load up your player of choice with the relevant BPM music and get after some tempo.
The Bottom Line
A good playlist of tunes can wear a lot of hats when swim training.
Pure enjoyment. Some added motivation. Pushes us to go a little further when fatigue is creeping up on us. And used smartly, it’s an external rhythmic cue for stroke tempo.
Start with a rhythm that matches your natural stroke and take it for a ride on longer swims to improve overall endurance. Experiment with slightly lower and higher BPMs at the same speed to unlock speedier combinations of stroke rate and stroke length.
The goal isn’t going to the top of the stroke rate charts, but findings and learning to maintain the rhythm that propels you to faster swimming.
