Understanding Movement Scores

Spencer Turner
58 minutes ago
2 min read

The Movement Scores were added to The Swimmer’s Warm Up Deck to help young swimmers understand more about the exercises they are doing.

Each movement is looked at across five areas:

Coordination

Flexibility

Impact

Strength

Intensity

The scores are not scientific measurements and they are not there to tell a swimmer that one exercise is better than another.

They are comparative.

The purpose is to help a swimmer look at two movements and start noticing that they place different demands on the body.

What the scores are showing

Coordination looks at how much control and organisation is needed to perform the movement.

A simple movement may require relatively little coordination. Another might ask the swimmer to control several parts of the body at once, maintain balance or combine movements in sequence.

Flexibility reflects how much useful range of movement the exercise asks for.

That does not mean a high Flexibility score automatically makes an exercise better. It simply helps show that some movements involve a greater range than others.

Impact looks at the amount of landing, jumping or force going through the body.

A controlled mobility movement may involve very little impact. A jump or more explosive exercise will naturally sit higher.

Strength reflects how much muscular effort and control the movement requires.

Some exercises are light and movement-based. Others ask the swimmer to support more of their body weight, hold a stronger position or work against greater resistance.

Intensity reflects the overall demand of the movement, influenced by factors such as speed, effort and whole-body involvement.

A higher score is not a better score

This is probably the most important part.

The scores are not ratings of exercise quality.

A movement with a high Strength or Intensity score is not automatically more useful than one with a lower score. A low-impact mobility exercise may be exactly what is needed at one point in the warm-up.

The value comes from understanding the difference.

That can start useful conversations between swimmer and coach. Why does this movement score higher for Coordination? Why does this one have more Impact? Why might we choose one today and another tomorrow?

For a young swimmer, those questions begin to build movement knowledge rather than simply asking them to copy an exercise.

Why include them on the cards?

A swimmer can use the Deck without needing to understand every score from the start.

As their knowledge develops, the Movement Scores allow them to compare exercises within the same stage and notice how the demands can change through the warm-up.

For coaches and parents, the Exercise Companion Guide provides more detail about the movements themselves and can help support those conversations.

The Top Score Challenge

The scores also created an opportunity to make the cards more interactive away from the warm-up itself.

The Top Score Challenge lets swimmers compare Movement Scores across the Deck and become more familiar with the different movement characteristics.

The game is secondary to the purpose of the scores. Their main role is to help young swimmers notice and understand the differences between movements.

Prepare. Move. Perform.

Spencer Turner

Creator, The Swimmer’s Warm Up Deck

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