Monitoring weekly progress of front crawl swimmers using IMU-based performance evaluation goal metrics

Abstract

Technical evaluation of swimming performance is an essential factor in preparing elite swimmers for their competitions. Inertial measurement units (IMUs) have attracted much attention recently because they can provide coaches with a detailed analysis of swimmers’ performance during training. A coach can obtain a quantitative and objective evaluation from IMU. The purpose of this study was to validate the use of a new phase-based performance assessment with a single IMU worn on the sacrum during training sessions. Sixteen competitive swimmers performed five one-way front crawl trials at their maximum speed wearing an IMU on the sacrum. The coach recorded the lap time for each trial, as it remains the gold standard for swimmer’s performance in competition. The measurement was carried out once a week for 10 consecutive weeks to monitor the improvement in the swimmers’ performance. Meaningful progress was defined as a time decrease of at least 0.5 s over a 25 m lap. Using validated algorithms, we estimated five goal metrics from the IMU signals representing the swimmer’s performance in the swimming phases (wall push-off, glide, stroke preparation, free-swimming) and in the entire lap. The results showed that the goal metrics for free-swimming phase and the entire lap predicted the swimmer’s progress well (e.g., accuracy, precision, sensitivity, and specificity of 0.91, 0.89, 0.94, and 0.95 for the lap goal metric, respectively). As the goal metrics for initial phases (wall push-off, glide, stroke preparation) achieved high precision and specificity (≥0.79) in progress detection, the coach can use them for swimmers with satisfactory free-swimming phase performance and make further improvements in initial phases. Changes in the values of the goal metrics have been shown to be correlated with changes in lap time when there is meaningful progress. The results of this study show that goal metrics provided by the phase-based performance evaluation with a single IMU can help monitoring swimming progress. Average velocity of the lap can replace traditional lap time measurement, while phase-based goal metrics provide more information about the swimmer’s performance in each phase. This evaluation can help the coach quantitatively monitor the swimmer’s performance and train them more efficiently.

Validation of Automatically Quantified Swim Stroke Mechanics Using an Inertial Measurement Unit in Paralympic Athletes

“…IMU placement on the sacrum has been suggested to minimize the effect of drag and allow for good indications of swimmers' instantaneous velocity [14], SC [13], instantaneous stroke rate (ISR) [15], and distance per stroke (DPS) [19]. In addition, IMU-based velocity metrics in the wall push-off, glide, stroke preparation, and free-swimming phases have been shown to help predict competitive swimmers' progression of freestyle lap time over a 10-week period [20], highlighting IMUs as a viable tool to help improve technique and subsequently performance in able-bodied swimmers. However, lap times, SC, stroke duration, and ISR derived from sacrum-worn IMUs have only been validated in able-bodied swimmers.…”