Courtesy of FINIS, a SwimSwam partner.
Think you have your head wrapped around stroke rate? Tell us about it! Answer 5 short questions in the survey below and be entered for a chance to win a free FINIS Smart Goggle, Powered by Ciye™!
FINIS Inc. has announced that the FINIS Smart Goggle, powered by Ciye™, now tracks and displays stroke rate, the first smart goggle to display live stroke rate in real time for all four swim strokes.
In swimming, stroke rate is an important building block to successful swimming because it affects rhythm, speed, and efficiency. However, finding the optimal stroke rate can be difficult since it’s different for each athlete and will vary depending on the individuals’ strengths and strategies for a given event or competition.
The FINIS Smart Goggle’s latest upgrade will make it easy for athletes of all ages and levels to successfully determine their optimal stroke rate. During a swim, the Smart Goggle will discreetly display the swimmer’s stroke rate in the corner of the left lens without distracting their field of view. Having stroke rate available within view at all times allows swimmers to focus on a specific rate and determine their optimal pace. The Smart Goggle will also display maximum, minimum, and average stroke rates for the previous set while the swimmer is resting on the wall.
Stroke rate is measured as the number of revolutions (stroke cycles) your arms complete in a minute. It is very similar to cadence on a bike, which measures pedal cycles per minute. Just like how cadence and resistance combine to calculate output on a bike, stroke rate and distance per stroke combine to measure speed in the pool. If stroke rate can be increased without sacrificing distance per stroke (or vice versa), the swimmer’s speed will increase.
DID YOU KNOW?
The stroke rate of the world’s elite sprinters is between 120-150 strokes per minute, while the stroke rate of the world’s elite distance swimmers is between 60-100 strokes per minute (at least until the end of the race, when distance swimmers increase their stroke rate over 100) [1]. Anthony Ervin’s stroke rate was around 120 during his gold medal 50M Freestyle at the Rio Games in 2016 [2]. Katie Ledecky averaged 90 strokes per minute during her gold medal 800M Freestyle at those same Games [3].
WANT TO IMPROVE YOUR SPEED?
Consider your pool. Data shows that swimmers in shorter pools (25SCY or 25SCM) favor higher stroke rates and shorter distance per stroke than swimmers in longer pools (50LMC). This makes sense because more turns and underwaters means fewer strokes over the course of the race, which decreases arm fatigue. [4]
See how Olympic Silver Medalist, Kevin McDowell, uses the stroke rate in his Smart Goggle to train smarter!
In addition to stroke rate, the Smart Goggle displays other metrics like lap splits, lap time, lap count, total time, rest time and more, right in the lens. It also tracks and records a detailed breakdown of every workout to the Ciye™ mobile app.
Since the launch of the FINIS Smart Goggles in 2021 the company has made several integrations to keep the goggles on the cutting edge of swim gear. The FINIS Smart Goggle integrates with Strava and the Apple Health Kit and is the official smart goggle for Swim.com, the accredited workout and training platform of U.S. Masters Swimming.
The FINS Smart Goggle, Powered by Ciye™ is available for purchase at FINISswim.com.
ABOUT FINIS, INC.
Founded in 1993 by Olympic Champion Swimmer, Pablo Morales, and former collegiate aquatic sports athlete, John Mix, FINIS Inc. is an international swimming company that designs industry-first, highest-quality products to help swimmers of all ages and levels learn to love swimming and enhance their skills for life. Through its commitment to product innovation, education, and community, FINIS helps advance the sport of swimming while making it more accessible and enjoyable for all.
FINIS introduced the monofin into the United States market in 1993. Today, FINIS monofins are used globally by Olympic champions and aspirational mermaids alike. The Original Swimmer’s Snorkel, a FINIS invention, is used by over 1M people worldwide and FINIS was the first to use cutting-edge bone conduction technology to deliver underwater music through products like the Duo and Amnis Stream. The company’s latest product, the FINIS Smart Goggle, continues a legacy of swimming industry firsts. FINIS offers a wide selection of swimwear, training gear, and electronics for kids and adults. For more information, please visit https://www.finisswim.com/; Instagram: @finisswim, Facebook: @Finisinc, and Twitter: @FINISswim.
ABOUT CIYE™
Founded in 2017, Ciye is on a mission to make fitness more enjoyable and help you attain your health and fitness goals. Ciye’s Smart Coach is a revolutionary approach to fitness which places a virtual coach in athletic eyewear. The patented design is compact and unobtrusive, keeping the eyewear virtually unchanged. Ciye collects and analyzes your workout and provides real time, in-the-moment feedback to improve your performance, just like a real coach would.
Our first product integrates the Ciye Smart Coach into swimming goggles for a radically improved swim experience. In the process we changed swimming forever.
