Biohacking in competitive swimming

Abstract

Prosperity and progress in competitive swimming can be observed as the results of acquired knowledge about human movement in the water environment. It is based on learning and, regardless of the period of development, with the development of science and technology in a broader sense, a significant causality can be seen. The development of competitive swimming in the new technological and informational environment takes place through the intensification of the swimmer's self-awareness process, whereby the swimmer gains knowledge about personal characteristics and the effects of the training program, in the direction of efficiency in further process of individualization of his practice. Self-awareness is a cognitive process that is at the core of an athlete's progress today. Its essence can also be presented as "hacking your own body and mind" (biohacker). By hacking (selfhacking), the swimmer learns about the reactions of his organic systems, recognizes their reactions and anticipates the course of expected adaptations to various training and competition stimuli. Based on the information acquired on that way, the swimmer has the opportunity to understand the factors of his functional system, as well as to direct them to a higher level of functioning through self-awareness, which will enable him to progress towards a better "version" of himself. Therefore, the subject of this paper is biohacking as a concept - a trend in training and competition practice, during which, with hacks, we intend to encourage the effectiveness and efficiency of organic systems, and the overall productivity of swimmers. The aim of the paper is to "shed light" on the swimmer's self-hacking as a growing step in the process of learning and self-awareness, during which they acquires, analyzes and learns from direct perception and during which the swimmer's cognitive skills are developed through a technological and digital environment.