The importance of distance per stroke in competitive swimming is a generally accepted principle and has been well documented. Many authors have addressed the benefits of stroke length to both speed and efficiency. Unfortunately, there has not been equivalent effort placed on how to teach to improve distance per stroke. Stroke development drills and exercise, training drills, designed specifically to reduce the number of strokes per length, ways to integrate distance per stroke technique and drills into training sessions, assessing and testing progress, and the utilization of these principles during competition are all important components of teaching to improve distance per stroke. This article will address stroke development drills and exercises and training drills designed specifically to increase distance improvement per stroke (DIPS), that is reduce the number of strokes required to swim each length of the pool. Teaching DIPS should begin with age group swimmers, but it is just as important to senior and masters swimmers. Steps should be taken to emphasize, reinforce, and improve distance per stroke for all ages and levels of swimmers. Content: - Introduction - What is Needed? - Stroke Development Drills Related to Teaching DIPS - Principles that should be Applied in Using Stroke Development Drills to Teach DIPS - Teaching Strategies for Developing Stroke Mechanics - Training Drills Designed Specifically to Reduce the Number of Strokes Per Length and Increase Distance Per Stroke - Summary