Swolf

The Swolf is a composite measurement in sports swimming that reflects how fast and how efficiently somebody is swimming. In contrast, time per distance speed neglects swimming technique, and the swolf of swimming strokes per lap neglects the purpose of competitive swimming: Covering a given distance in the shortest time. Swolf is a portmanteau of "swim" and "golf". As in golf swolf, a lower number of strokes is better, swolf.

This is essential reading if you are looking to swim longer distances. I originally created this post in but have been working with panel of swim experts to update this with our latest update in Feb Continually really valuable insights on why you can get value from SWOLF metrics to improve swimming insights. As a competitive swimmer for 3 decades including coaching many Juniors and Adult triathletes I have compiled this article. In addition across Trivelo we have a number of swimming specialists who write for us and have been able to review and improve the information. This magic SWOLF number will help bring more science to your swim training and improve your performance.

Swolf

You may have heard swimmers talk about their SWOLF score but what is it and is it useful for swimmers? SWOLF is a combination of your stroke rate and the time you spend in the water to cover 25 metres or yards and is commonly used as a measurement of your swim efficiency. SWOLF is better than just counting strokes, as you can reduce strokes taken by sliding through the water more efficiently. When starting out with SWOLF, strive to reduce the number of strokes you take to finish one length or two by keeping the same pace. Get your FREE swimming workouts for triathletes book here. Your SWOLF is easy to calculate — you simply need to add together the number of strokes you take to swim a 25 metre or yard length of the pool with the time in seconds it takes you. For example, if you take 18 strokes counting both arms and it takes 29 seconds to swim a length, then your SWOLF score is You can do this yourself using a basic stopwatch or pool clock and counting your strokes or ask swim buddy or coach to do it for you poolside. As a guide, a SWOLF score of between 35 and 45 over 25m is very good, or over 50m scoring in the lows is excellent. But your SWOLF score is personal to you and the first time you do the test you can use this as your base rate and strive to lower your score over time. There are two sides of this coin, it is either you try to drop your stroke count, meaning that your SWOLF score will go down, or that you attempt to swim faster at the same stroke rate, meaning your SWOLF score is going down as well. If you increase your stroke rate, you will probably take in more strokes per length so you score may in fact go up if you shorten your stroke and become less efficient.

I regularly am asked for tips on open water swimming as it is a real worry for many people. A GPS swimming watch tracks your swimming when outdoors, swolf. Swimming faster requires a lot swolf things to happen.

Here are all the answers. Your SWOLF is pretty simple to calculate — you simply need to add together the number of strokes you take to swim a 25m length of the pool with the time in seconds it takes you. You can do this yourself using a basic stop watch or pool clock and counting your strokes, or for ease, ask a friend to do it for you poolside. Many sports watches will do it for you though — in the example below, a Garmin Fenix was used to calculate SWOLF and averaged the score out across the swim based on stroke rate and m swim times. Like so much data, your SWOLF score is pretty useless unless you understand it and can use it to improve your swimming. Using your base starting score, play around with tweaking your swimming and working on technique improvements.

Check out our tips for reading SWOLF analytics and learn how to improve your stroke efficiency to improve your score! Efficiency fixes this problem, so you can compare apples-to-apples in different pool lengths. For freestyle and backstroke, stroke count is calculated each time an arm pulls underwater. For breaststroke and butterfly, a stroke cycle is completed when both arms complete a pull together. As you can see in the 4 x 50s IM set below, each stroke carries a different pair of metrics.

Swolf

Our upcoming feature release next week is dedicated to swimmers. Finally you can unlock all the data your Garmin Swim , Forerunner XT or XT gathers while you swim indoors - in a way that is easy to understand and helps you make actual improvements in your swim technique. It also means pool workouts just got a whole bunch of new metrics. If you're new to technical analysis of your swim workouts, this article will quickly get you up to speed. Once you get the basics down, you'll be on your way. After you've finished a pool workout and uploaded it to SportTracks, bring up the details page and click over to Intervals tab. You should see something like this:. Wow right?! If you don't see the bar charts and want to , just click the table header to cycle through the column styles.

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Conclusion SWOLF is a rating that combines the strokes taken and time taken to complete one 25m lap of your swimming pool. Not only does stroke counting help you focus on efficiency while swimming, but it also helps you stay present and reduces some of the inevitable mind wandering from circling the black line. Swimming training plans on TrainingPeaks. ABOUT contact author info advertising. The swolf score will be different for each swim distance. Categories: Swimming. Coach Cwik. The practice of counting your strokes each lap gives you something to focus, keeps your mind from wandering, and keeps efficiency front of mind. How does that feel? Reducing your swimming to a metric like a SWOLF score is a great way to sharpen your focus on the things that matter most and keeping things simple in the water. This works as good today as it did 60 years ago, when my High School Coach had us do this every week.

Here are all the answers. Your SWOLF is pretty simple to calculate — you simply need to add together the number of strokes you take to swim a 25m length of the pool with the time in seconds it takes you. You can do this yourself using a basic stop watch or pool clock and counting your strokes, or for ease, ask a friend to do it for you poolside.

ABOUT contact author info advertising. Is a big number good or bad? An editor has performed a search and found that sufficient sources exist to establish the subject's notability. General consensus across the experts is that a score in the region of is good and no need to keep pushing yourself harder than you already are. So for a fast and furious m triathlon swim where a triathlete is hoping to exit the water in the lead pack, the approach and therefore score may be very different to a swimmer looking to finish a 3. You write an awesome review and keep what we sent. Perform screening of health risks and obtain informed consent. Olivier Poirier-Leroy is a former national-level swimmer, author, swim coach, and certified personal trainer. Swolf is a portmanteau of "swim" and "golf". For each swim distance, swimming faster will improve your score, and equally, your score can be improved with better swimming technique to lower your stroke count. But your SWOLF score is personal to you and the first time you do the test you can use this as your base rate and strive to lower your score over time. Looking to get more speed from your kick?