Swimming is a typical cyclic activity powered by muscular energy supply. Per cycle the speed of the body is determined by the displacement of the body and the duration of each cycle. New research considering cognitive aspects of stroking reveals that highly skilled swimmers are concentrating on each stroke (even in competition). The displacement a body travels while stroking can be determined by two different approaches: a) direct measurement and b) indirectly by calculating the stroke distance. The purpose of this paper is to compare the displacement of the body-path of 22 age-group swimmers measured directly length during one arm cycle with calculated stroke distance. The comparison is based on the assumption that 3 quarter of a full cycle is "involved"; hense the ratio of body-path (p) to stroke distance (d) is : (p) = 75 % (d). The results reveal that the ratio body-path (p) to stroke distance per stroke (d) is (p) = 77 % of (d). The correlation of (p) over (d) is reasonable (r = .78). Hense, the calculated stroke distance is a representative figure of the effect of both arm actions.
© Copyright 2008 1st International Scientific Conference of Aquatic Space Activities. Published by University of Tsukaba. All rights reserved.