Technology Keeps Masters Swimmers In The Pool
Even though the last of the Baby Boomers are turning 50 and Generation Xers have passed 30, don’t expect them to slow down or watch from the sidelines. Just as competitive as they were in their twenties, today’s “masters” athletes are back in the pool, on the track and exploding the growth of age-group sports across the U.S. and throughout the world. Since the years might have taken away a few minutes off their personal bests, they are also searching for a competitive edge from the latest advances in coaching, training and technology. Two of the fastest growing sports, swimming and triathlon, have put adults back in the pool, some for the first time since they were kids.
Ever since 46 adult swimmers gathered in an Amarillo, Texas pool in 1970 for the first Masters Swimming championship, the growth of competitive swimming for those over 18 hasn’t stopped. Today, U.S. Masters Swimming (USMS), a national non-profit organization, has almost 60,000 members organized across 700 swim clubs, with members ranging in age from 18 to over 100.
While many masters swimmers join a local club for the fitness benefits, almost 25% compete in local, regional and national meets and another 20% join USMS as part of their triathlon training. In fact, participation in triathlons in the U.S. is on its own upward jump. USA Triathlon, representing triathletes across the country, reports their membership has risen from 127,824 in 1999 to 550,446 in 2012. According to the Sports and Fitness Industry Association, almost 2 million people completed a triathlon in 2011, a jump of over 75% from 2008 participation.
While many of these new swimmers have access to excellent coaching resources at local swim clubs, they also require training tools to track their workouts as well as log their nutrition, injuries, and mental recovery as they prepare for meets or events. For example, USMS has partnered with Nike for a program called Go The Distance that allows members to log their training miles. By also adding a complete performance monitoring system like Metrifit, the competitive adult athlete can track all of their training activity, whether in the water or on land.
In addition to allowing a swimmer to review their workouts, progress and trends, a monitoring system that includes predictive analysis can also find hidden combinations of performance variables that point to recommendations for improvement. Integrating wearable technology such as heart rate monitors, like Instabeat and GPS/lap watches, like Garmin Swim, can give the athlete a complete picture of their body’s reaction to their time in the pool.
Is the time in the pool working? Yes, on two fronts, says Joel Stager, professor and director of the Counsilman Center for the Science of Swimming at Indiana University. His research team performed a series of tests on 200 masters swimmers at the U.S. Masters Swimming Short Course National Championships, including biomarkers of age such as blood pressure, cholesterol, triglycerides, pulmonary function, and muscle mass and strength. Normally, these health indicators worsen about 1% per year starting at age 35. However, the competitive masters swimmers had better scores across all stats when compared to the general population. In fact, the 50-year old swimmers had the physiology of adults twenty years younger.
In addition to the health benefits, Stager also found that better techniques and training were leading to faster times. Across the masters age-group categories, average competitive times had decreased over the last 20 years.
“Technique trumps training,” Dr. Stager told the New York Times. “Water is the great equalizer. People can and do get faster, despite the fact that they may be 10, 20 years older than when they first started.”
Combining training, technology and technique with proper coaching can keep Baby Boomers and Gen-Xers in the pool, whether it be for a medal or just for better fitness.
About Metrifit
Metrifit is an athlete monitoring system that gathers subjective and objective information from both coaches and athletes in a simple but effective manner with intelligent visualization helping coaches and athletes to act on that data. Why not have a look at our Ready to Perform product and gain insight on the physical and mental state of your athletes through our daily wellbeing questionnaire? To find out more visit our Metrifit Product Overview page or get in touch for a free demo.