The Importance of Including Biomechanical Principles in the Swimming Dives
Swimming is a sport that requires a large amount of technical skill and development. The main objective of swimming is to try and produce the fastest time you can over a specific distance through water. Swimmers need to utilise many different technical skills to ensure they produce the most efficient performance time plausible. By studying biomechanics, we can further look into the biomechanical makeup of specific skills required to improve their execution. This allows us to analyse how individuals could execute specific skills differently to ensure the best possible outcomes can be achieved.
For swimmers to produce an effective dive execution that creates the greatest acceleration and speed, it is important to identify the different aspects that the specific dive techniques entail. Acceleration is “the rate of change of velocity” (Blazevich, 2012, pp.7). The faster a swimmer can accelerate into the water when conducting a dive, the faster they will travel through the water. This can assist in increasing a swimmers performance and improving race time. When looking at swim diving, it is important to identity the different endeavours that may impact on how a swimmer may accelerate from the starting blocks (Hay, 1993). By understanding force generation in biomechanics we can determine how quickly and swimmer can accelerate in the two dives.
This blog will further look at the biomechanical differences between two variations of dive start techniques (Standing Starts and Track Starts) performed in swimming. This will look at the differences and similarities that the dives share using different biomechanical elements presented further within this blog. This will ultimately assist with answering the question; ‘Which Swimming dive start (Standing Start or Track Start) produces the greatest acceleration to increase a swimmers speed?’
For swimmers to produce an effective dive execution that creates the greatest acceleration and speed, it is important to identify the different aspects that the specific dive techniques entail. Acceleration is “the rate of change of velocity” (Blazevich, 2012, pp.7). The faster a swimmer can accelerate into the water when conducting a dive, the faster they will travel through the water. This can assist in increasing a swimmers performance and improving race time. When looking at swim diving, it is important to identity the different endeavours that may impact on how a swimmer may accelerate from the starting blocks (Hay, 1993). By understanding force generation in biomechanics we can determine how quickly and swimmer can accelerate in the two dives.
This blog will further look at the biomechanical differences between two variations of dive start techniques (Standing Starts and Track Starts) performed in swimming. This will look at the differences and similarities that the dives share using different biomechanical elements presented further within this blog. This will ultimately assist with answering the question; ‘Which Swimming dive start (Standing Start or Track Start) produces the greatest acceleration to increase a swimmers speed?’