Spark- Static tethered swimming
KC73
Posts: 7 [Apprentice Traveler]
I'm doing static swimming training using a tether in a small pool. Any recommendations about the best settings to use? I thought I could get it to count my strokes but it only seems to want to count strokes per length and it seems to count a new length every time I take a pause. Obviously I can do time but any old stop watch can do that. Any tips about how to get the best out of it?
0
Comments
I am not sure how well it will work for you as swim mode is looking to count the number of lengths, based on sharp movements of the arms at the end of each length to indicate a turn. Since you have no turns it has nothing to count (total strokes may be available in My Sport as a metric after the fact but not during the activity). You are really an edge case outside of the design parameters of the watch so i am not sure there is really much of a workaround for what you need.
I hope this helps, please let me know if this answered your question. If it did, please mark it as a solution so others can look for it if they have the same question.
It is using METs for calories since it does not use the HR so it is basing it on pace, which is going to look at lengths, so that will probably not work for you either.
I hope this helps, please let me know if this answered your question. If it did, please mark it as a solution so others can look for it if they have the same question.
Is this the best way to get the best out of the Spark when static/ resistance swimming? Is there any way to use the manually entered stats to calculate things like SWOLF?
It sounds like you have worked it out as best you can under the circumstances. You will have to do some work on your own as static swimming is not an intended use of the watch. It reduces some of the metrics when you edit activities, I am surprised the speed does not change as it does for running. SWOLF you would also need to figure out for yourself.
I hope this helps, please let me know if this answered your question. If it did, please mark it as a solution so others can look for it if they have the same question.
Will it track my swimming distance? Will the GPS work?
What about HR sensor? I know it can't work properly in the water.
Thanks for replay!
GPS does not work under water so your distance will be off for open water swimming if you do it in run mode, plus you will not get any swim metrics. The watch does not support open water swimming using GPS, it is for pools only. Supporting open water swimming is much more complicated than pool swimming (which involves counting strokes and figuring out the stroke length). GPS cannot be detected underwater so it would need to time the GPS signal attainment with the split second the watch is above water on each stroke (assuming you are doing a stroke that brings your arms out of the water). What most users who want open water swimming do is to use freestyle mode and put the watch in their cap or on a safety buoy behind them so it stays out of the water. You will then get distance but will lose swim specific metrics, however. You will also get HR in freestyle, but its accuracy may be off as it struggles more underwater (which is why it is not active in swim mode, the failure rate is above acceptable limits). It is worth a try to see if it works for you.
Is there any chance of an update to allow for static swimming without laps.
Adding the counting of the number of strokes & speed within session/time frame, like a basic pedometer.
Is far as I can see, there is no way of measuring any static swimming. My guess is that there is no way of measuring the distance without a length of a pool.
- The 'spl' & 'swolf' require laps & length.
+ Only readings i get are obtained with freestyle, while backstroke DOES NOT REGISTER AT ALL.
Therefore can there be an update for static swimming and why backstroke does not register.
I imagine this is not what you were hoping to hear but let me know if this answered your question. If it did, please mark it as a solution so other can look for it if they have the same question.
I can only see that purchasing a heart rate monitor band to record my heart rate whilst static swimming will be the only way to improve my measurement of my swimming trainning. But I'm not sure if I want to risk spending further money just to find out more limits from the device.
In conclusion I'm regreating changing over from Fitbit to TT due to the limited swimming application and in my case poor sleep measurment and display compared to FB. But all brands have limitations.
Thanks for the reply again.
A heart rate band will not do you any good as they do not work underwater. BT travels less than 1 cm under water so the watch will not read it. If you got one that caches the data for later syncing it will work, but not with the TT watch (they are proprietary to the company - either Garmin or Polar).