Swim Terminology Used for Garmin Watches and Garmin Connect

Below are definitions for various terms and strokes related to swimming that you may find on a Garmin® watch or within your Garmin Connect™ account.

Backstroke

This is the correct name for what many people call "back crawl", sometimes abbreviated as just "Back".

Breaststroke

This is a stroke type most people are familiar with, sometimes abbreviated as just "Breast".

Butterfly

This is a stroke type that is typically only done by more advanced swimmers. Both arms come out of the water together which makes it challenging. Also sometimes called "Fly".

Drill

Swimmers use the term "drill" for any type of swimming that is used to work on technique and is not one of the four recognized stroke types. For example, one-arm swimming, sculling, catch-up front crawl, etc.
Kicking while not moving the arms is another very common type of drill (frequently a kick board is used).

When doing any kind of drill that affects the motion of the arms, swimmers should use drill mode on the Garmin watch (if available).

A common drill that doesn't affect the motion of the arms is "Pull". When doing a pull, swimmers hold a pull buoy between their legs and don't kick. All the work is done by the arms. When doing a pull, swimmers don't need to use drill mode.

Freestyle

Though technically an interval or event where there is no prescribed stroke, for most people freestyle is synonymous with "front crawl" since that is usually a swimmer's the most efficient and fastest stroke. It is the stroke most often used by triathletes. It is frequently abbreviated as just "Free".

Flip Turn

Flip turns are done by more advanced swimmers. When they reach the wall they do a forward somersault under the water such that their feet end up positioned on the wall ready to push off. The hands never touch the wall. It is the fastest way to turn when doing freestyle or backstroke. Flip turns are not typically done for butterfly or breaststroke.

Individual Medley (IM)

This refers to "set" or "interval" that consist of all four stroke types in equal amounts in this order: butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, freestyle. It is an Olympic event and is often used by serious swimmers in training. There is also "Adapted IM" where the butterfly is replaced by freestyle, or reverse IM where the strokes are performed in the opposite sequence: freestyle, then breaststroke, then backstroke, then butterfly.

Interval / Swim Interval / Int

This a group of lengths separated by rests. A swimmer could do 5 x 200 m intervals with 15 seconds of rest between each. It is very common for swimmers to train this way - with swims separated by rests. It is less common to just get into the pool and swim continuously for some amount of time or distance, though recreational swimmers may do this.

Swimmers should press the Lap button when they start a rest, and then again at the end of the rest when they are about to push off the wall to resume swimming.

Kick Sets / Kicking

Kicking or kick sets are very common. Swimmers often hold a kick board (flutter board) when they do kicking. Kicking is a type of drill, though some swimmers may need to be educated on this.

Lap

Swimmers might use this term to refer to a "there and back" - i.e. two lengths. Garmin avoids this term for swimming because of potential confusion with the concept of laps in running or cycling, and also confusion about what the Lap Button does.

Length

One length in swimming is crossing the pool once. A swimmer that swims "there and back" would have swum two lengths. Swimmers should not stop in the middle of a length, and should not change stroke types in the middle of the length.

Mixed Stroke Type

"Mixed" is what Garmin labels any swim interval that contains more than one stroke type. For example: an interval that contains 4 lengths, two of which are free and two of which are back.

NOTE: A single length cannot have stroke type "Mixed", the stroke type detection algorithm expects swimmers to use the same stroke type for the whole length. If they switch, they will likely get whichever stroke type was used for most of the length, or the label will just be wrong.

Pool Size

This is how big the pool is. The most common pool sizes are 25 m, 50 m, and 25 yards (mostly in the US). Races held in 25 m pools are sometimes referred to as "Short Course", and races in 50 m pools are sometimes referred to as "Long Course" or "Olympic-size". International competitions always use 50 m pools. Races are not generally held in 25 yard pools.

Other pool sizes are common, too. Hotel and backyard pools are often smaller, and sometimes resorts have pools that can be longer than typical.

Sets

This is a common term among swimmers that can be used for a swim interval or even a group of intervals (e.g. 5 x 200 m). Sometimes they might be a "warm-up set" or "main set" or a "sprint set". Because this term is not used consistently and doesn't always mean the same thing, it is not used by Garmin.

Streamlining

This is the underwater glide performed after a turn. Swimmers usually have their arms extended over their heads and perform a dolphin kick either on the front or back.

Stroke Count

The stroke count is the number of cycles with the arms in a length. A cycle is like both arms hitting the water, so it counts as both strokes (left and right). Swimmers sometimes count the number of strokes they take in a length to understand their efficiency. Since the watch is only worn on one arm, the Garmin stroke count refers to the number of cycles with the watch arm only.

Stroke Type Identification

This is the feature on Garmin watches that determines what type of stroke you are swimming. You can choose to see this as a data field but it is most useful when analyzing your data post-swim.

Swolf

This is a measure of swim efficiency. Swolf is a contraction of swimming and golf. Like in golf, a lower score is better. The Swolf score is computed per length swum. Swolf = (number of strokes in the length) + (time of the length is seconds). For example, if I swim a length in 25 seconds and take 11 strokes, my Swolf score would be 36. Swolf scores can't be compared for different stroke types or different pool sizes.

Touch Turn / Open Turn

This refers to any type of turn that is not a flip turn. The swimmer grabs the wall with one or both hands before spinning their bodies to position their feet to push off.

Turns

A turn is done at the end of a length when the swimmer reaches the wall and continues swimming in the other direction. There are several types of turn styles including a flip turn or open turn.