Developing Efficient Technique and Propulsive Force for Swimmers

Coaches use many metrics to analyze swimming performance, both for competitive swimming and for training to become a faster swimmer. Most common among the metrics—besides time—are swim velocity, stroke count, stroke rate, and stroke length.

There have been numerous studies measuring force development of the swimmer’s body using tethered swims, where the swimmer is strapped onto a wire or line that is connected to a strain gauge on land that measures the force the swimmer produces while swimming. Santos et al.¹ showed that asymmetries between propulsive forces generated by each side of the body can be detected using tethered swim measurements, but being able to measure the propulsive force and its proportion of total force development in each individual stroke is relatively new—and provides another way to measure and analyze a swimmer’s performance, as well as monitor training progression.

Read more by clicking here. This blog is written by Smartpaddle user Maria Vitazka.