This review updates the swim-start state of the art from a biomechanical
standpoint. We review the contribution of the swimstart
to overall swimming performance, the effects of various
swim-start strategies, and skill effects across the range of swimstart
strategies identified in the literature. The main objective is
to determine the techniques to focus on in swimming training in
the contemporary context of the sport. The phases leading to key
temporal events of the swim-start, like water entry, require
adaptations to the swimmer’s chosen technique over the course
of a performance; we thus define the swim-start as the moment
when preparation for take-off begins to the moment when the
swimming pattern begins. A secondary objective is to determine
the role of adaptive variability as it emerges during the swimstart.
Variability is contextualized as having a functional role
and operating across multiple levels of analysis: inter-subject
(expert versus non-expert), inter-trial or intra-subject (through
repetitions of the same movement), and inter-preference (preferred
versus non-preferred technique). Regarding skill effects,
we assume that swim-start expertise is distinct from swim stroke
expertise. Highly skilled swim-starts are distinguished in terms
of several factors: reaction time from the start signal to the
impulse on the block, including the control and regulation of
foot force and foot orientation during take-off; appropriate
amount of glide time before leg kicking commences; effective
transition from leg kicking to break-out of full swimming with
arm stroking; overall maximal leg and arm propulsion and
minimal water resistance; and minimized energy expenditure
through streamlined body position. Swimmers who are less
expert at the swim-start spend more time in this phase and
would benefit from training designed to reduce: (i) the time
between reaction to the start signal and impulse on the block,
and (ii) the time in transition (i.e., between gliding and leg kicking,
and between leg-kicking and full swimming).