Improving swimming performance through technology is no easy task: you can't simply place a sensor in the water or equip swimmers with sensors. Everything needs to be waterproof. We develop systems and techniques that provide insights into your swimming performance and how you can improve yourself.
A swimming movement is a 3D movement. To accurately analyze this movement, InnoSportLab de Tongelreep (or ISLT) has a system that uses markers on the wrists, lights on the fingertips, and six cameras in the water to measure the swimming stroke. The swimmer and coach can see in graph form, among other things, how deep the swimmer's hand enters the water, the orientation of the hand, how the hand propels the water, and how quickly the hand moves through the water. This information provides a detailed view of what happens in the water and allows for determining whether the coach's instructions are improving the swimmer's performance.
Just before the start of a lap, we begin filming every movement of the swimmer with our above- and underwater cameras. Immediately after the lap has been completed, the swimmer can view the video images and play them back in delayed fashion. This provides information about, for instance, the position of the hip, the entry angle into the the water, and the speed at the 5- and 10-m line, as well as at the break-out.
InnoSportLab De Tongelreep possesses an enormous dataset, which, among others, includes data of the fastest female starter ever, Ranomi Kromowidjojo. Swimmers can compare their start times with hers and those of many other elite swimmers.
We have a towing system to measure the drag of a swimmer or an object in the water. With this system we can pull a swimmer in streamlined position or a physical object, such as a mannequin, through the water. The towing system is mainly used to test swimming suits, but also plays a supportive role in more fundamental studies on drag.
The MAD system allows us to measure the active drag of a swimmer (MAD stands for measuring active drag). This means that we can monitor the drag while the swimmer is actively moving forward over the MAD system. Under certain conditions, the system can also provide valuable insights into force and speed.
The MAD system is often used in combination with the towing system used for the testing of swimming suits.
While performing a dive start a swimmer exerts forces on the starting block. The field lab is equipped with a Kistler starting block with a built-in force plate for measuring these forces. With this starting block we can measure how much force is exerted by each leg and what pulling forces are delivered by the arms. Based on this information we can optimize the dive start of individual swimmers.
With our video cameras and analysis software we can analyze the swimming movements of any swimmer in the smallest detail. Based on this analysis we can formulate personal points of attention together with an experienced swimming coach.
With our recently validated VO2 max measurement, we can determine swimming-specific maximum oxygen uptake and the corresponding training zones.
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