Dr. Ian Swaine's Land Swimmer - Learn Swimming Without Getting Into Water

Swimming without water? Yes it is possible now! The crazy idea has materialized in the form of a dry/land swimming training kit. The awesome machine is the brainchild of Dr. #-Link-Snipped-#Ian Swaine, a Reader in Sport and Exercise Science in the Department of Sport Science, Tourism and Leisure, Canterbury Christ Church University, UK. Being a former competitive swimmer, Dr. Swaine knows the tricks of swimming inside out. He used his knowledge of swimming to build a device which found its share of limelight recently in the show BBC One program, ‘Bang goes the theory’. (Watch the mind boggling machine program at 7:30 p.m on 2^nd May on the show)

After a long process involving 15 years and two prototypes, the machine will surely pop your eyes out. The machine has a suspended cradle on which the “Land Swimmer” lays down. The cradle allows for free movement and also allows the swimmer to roll his body as if to duplicate the effect of real water. The four resistance air-dynes are attached to the arms and legs using pulley ropes. Now you are ready to swim. What you have to do is to just place your hands in “hand paddles” and your feet in “foot plates”. Now start driving the air-dynes. For a bystander, the sight could be amusing, but it is only you who knows how much efforts are required to drive the leg air-dynes up and down!

Don’t be relaxed in case your human trainer goes for a sip of coffee. You are being monitored continuously through various sensors. The power generated at the air-dynes is sensed and analyzed with computers. What you see on the screen is the ‘individual limb power output’. The data of the power output is further calculated to get the mechanical efficiency of the swimmer. What gets this machine more WOWs is that it can monitor the mechanical power output of each air-dyne independently. This will surely help paraplegics and amputees to learn and enhance their swimming skills.

The aims for building such a training kit is to test how efficient are swimmers. The data of all the swimming routines will also test how the swimmers respond to change in training schedule and environments. This unique machine has previously garnered interest after its presentation in Oslo (Sweden), Indianapolis (USA) and Verona (Italy).

Dr. Swaine has worked extensively in the field of ergometry and his recent works include research on disruption of the normal cardiovascular control mechanisms in people with orthostatic intolerance. It is found common in highly trained athletes and astronauts.

Now don’t be surprised if you hear of a competition called “Sahara Desert Open Swimming Championship!”

Image Source: #-Link-Snipped-# News: #-Link-Snipped-#