Olympic swimmer and CEO of Phlex, Marcia Cieslak, spoke about the latest developments with Phlex. #Powerjournalist Markos Papadatos has the scoop.
“Starting Phlex was my solution to the challenges I faced as an elite athlete,” Cieslak said.” For years, I struggled with overtraining and missed opportunities to perform at my best. The tools readily available for tracking training progress in swimming were limited, making it difficult for me and my coaches to make proper training decisions and adjustments.”
“We were often limited to subjective observations and ‘gut feelings’ rather than objective data. Access to sports scientists was a luxury that was not always possible due to its high costs, and without proper data, my ambition would often lead to pushing too hard,” he said.
“Our PRO Platform was designed from the ground up with these challenges in mind, and we’re excited to offer a tool that will help swimmers and coaches at every level of the sport achieve their goals,” he added.
Phlex is a leading provider of cutting-edge technology for swim training. It announced its partnership with Polar Electro, the world leader in personal guidance for fitness, sport, and health. The partnership brings together two industry leaders to revolutionize swimmers’ access to cutting edge data, enabling them to train and compete at the highest level.
It was founded by a group of former University of Florida student-athletes, including Olympians, Triathletes, and Coaches. Phlex identified a problem within swimming and applied cutting-edge technology to solve it. The result is Phlex’s app + wearable platform that enables coaches and swimmers to better analyze their training performance. It provides extensive coach tools, automated fitness testing, and fully
personalized features for each athlete.
“We are thrilled to partner with Polar to provide swimmers with the best technology and tools available to help them reach their full potential,” said Marcin Cieslak. “With Polar’s expertise in sports technology, we can offer even more data-driven insights to coaches and athletes.”
An early prototype was created in 2019 and has since been tested with top Olympians, coaches and professional swimmers including Cody Miller, Dara Torres, Jason Lezak, Ron Aitken and others to refine and develop the product as part of the leAD Accelerator program in Lake Nona, Orlando’s leading-edge sports and health-tech innovation hub.
Phlex is the latest startup to emerge from Lake Nona, with support from the Lake Nona Fund, to fine-tune their product and platform in the region’s collaborative start-up ecosystem.
At its core, the Phlex PRO Platform is powered by the Polar Verity Sense, an optical heart rate sensor that swimmers wear on their goggles to track critical data such as heart rate, speed, and stroke count during training.
The Phlex Swim mobile app allows swimmers to review and analyze their data, while the Phlex PRO Platform dashboard enables coaches to track the progress of multiple swimmers, create customized
training programs, and analyze performance data.
The system is easy to use, with coaches able to set up a complimentary account and invite swimmers to join their team via email. Swimmers set up their own accounts and link their devices, then simply wear the device during training and upload data following each workout.
Phlex also personalizes the analysis of each swimmer by creating a baseline of their physiology and technique, using data such as maximum heart rate and speed at each heart rate zone to create customized training zones.
With the support of leading coaches, such as Team USA Coach Ron Aitken and 2022 Coach of the Year, Team USA Head Coach Anthony Nesty, the Phlex PRO Platform, powered by Polar, will provide data-driven decision-making and performance tracking using FINA-approved technology.
For more information on Phlex and its products, visit its official homepage.
