Technique Insights

*DISCLAIMER: This feature is only available to Simma users that utilise the Simma App on the Apple Watch. Please note Garmin users or Apple Watch (via Health Kit) users will not be able to view the following charts.*

A step towards enhancing your Simma experience

At Simma, we are always looking for ways to innovate and improve insights for our swimmers and coaches. So we have been working on a way to provide more insight about your stroke and technique. 

Our mission

In swimming, we understand that technique is crucial for performance. We also understand that in swimming, there are many technique trade-offs (e.g., stroke rate vs. stroke length) that can be manipulated to ultimately achieve faster swimming [1][2][3].

What we have identified at Simma, is that everyday wearables, like your fitness tracker (e.g. Apple Watch, Garmin) that swimmers may be using currently in pools, unfortunately do not address the technique aspect of swimming.

We understand that the assessment of swimming biomechanics is a resource-heavy task [4][5]. While elite swimmers may have access to biomechanists, motion capture cameras and software [4], the feasibility to assess this on swim squads (daily) is just not practical. With the recent surge in wearable technology, we have seen a transition to stroke analysis via accelerometers and gyroscopes [4]. While the accelerometers and gyroscopes built within a commercial fitness tracker may not be the most valid, accurate and reliable method of measurement available, compared to the gold standard scientific resources available, it provides us with an affordable solution. 

While we do not claim to have created a feature to replace the expensive resources, we are confident that our Simma stroke insights represent a significant step forward in making these insight accessible to everyone. 

How it works

With the information derived from the inertial measurement units (IMU) that are built into your everyday fitness tracker (Apple Watch, Garmin), we have developed an algorithm to provide valuable feedback on your swimming stroke insight. Our goal is to help swimmers of all levels understand and improve their stroke, by offering insights that were previously difficult to obtain without expensive laboratory equipment. 

Our feature analyses various aspects of your stroke across your entire swim set and provides you with motion analytic insights. 

MOTION ANALYTICS SUMMARY 

Click on any of them to learn more about your session, like your

STROKE COUNT vs STROKE LENGTH vs STROKE PROPULSION

STROKE COUNT

STROKE LENGTH (TIME)

STROKE PROPULSION (PULL FORCE)

HAND ENTRY INSIGHT

HAND ENTRY POSITION

HAND ENTRY CROSSOVER

HAND ENTRY SPLASH

And you can even put that against your swim pace, to see what happened when you increase or decrease your swim pace. This might prompt you to focus on your stroke efficiency when swimming main sets. 

PACE CORRELATION 

Additionally, Simma is able to breakdown each phase of your stroke per split within your swim workout to also provide patterns and trends on how the time your spend in each phase of a freestyle stroke changes, across a swim workout. 

STROKE TIMING

How to interpret stroke charts? 

Here is a swimmer that has completed a set in the pool. From a technique standpoint, and as a coach, we understand that there are two aspects we want to optimise; our stroke efficiency (technique and propulsion), as well as our stroke rate. These graphs can aid your explanation to your swimmers as a visual coaching point.

For example, it is likely natural when a swimmer increases their pace, reduces the time spent in each phase of their stroke. 

In the example above (stroke timing and pace correlation graphs), as the workout progresses, this swimmer's stroke rate increases significantly, whilst their pull force increases slightly. Whilst most phases of the swimmer's stroke timing reduces (glide, down-sweep, in-sweep, and recovery) to ensure his faster stroke rate, the time spent in their upsweep phase lengthens as they progress through their swim set. Although pull force seems to be maintained across the set (after the warmup), the increased time in upsweep may be a symptom of swimmer fatigue. 

A coach may identify this, show the swimmer the Simma graphs and explain to them that they must focus on following through and finishing the stroke, especially during the backend of their swim set, when fatigue kicks in! This can help the swimmer understand and visualise so that next time, it's an easy-solution with a quick reminder/cue about what they preciously discussed. 

Join us on this journey! 

We believe that everyone should have the opportunity to benefit from advanced swimming insights and access to swimming technology, and not limited to elite swimmers. Our stroke insights is designed to be a user-friendly, affordable alternative to make tracking your swim technique and progress a little easier.

While we acknowledge that there may still need fine-tuning, we are committed to continuously refining our feature based on user feedback and applied scientific research. If you would like to collaborate with us to further improve this feature, please do not hesitate to reach out! At the end of the day, Simma is for our swimmers/coaches, so we invite anyone to trial and work with us by sharing your experiences and feedback as we strive to make swimming insights more accurate and accessible to everyone. 

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