Effects of age and gender in physiological responses, mechanics and performance of master swimmers

PurposeThe aims of the study were to determine the relationship between the shoulder muscles strength and the athletic performance of high-level swimmers and to detect the strength variables that had the biggest impact on high performance in sports swimming.MethodsThe study involved 39 high qualified swimmers (12 females and 27 males). To determine the strength variables, shoulder flexion and extension were carried out in isokinetic conditions. A Biodex S4 dynamometer was used. The following protocols were applied: (1) 3 repetitions, 60°/s; (2) 20 repetitions, 180°/s. The r-Pearson correlation analysis or the rho-Spearman correlation analysis were used. The family-wise error was checked.ResultsThe level of strength had a greater influence on the swimming performance in males (25 of the 68 obtained variables) than in females (18 of the 68 variables). The strength variables that had the biggest impact on high performance in sports swimming were peak torque (r: 0.39–0.633), total work (r: 0.408–0.692), average power (r: 0.44–0.739), and average peak torque (r: 0.456–0.72).ConclusionsRegardless of the respondents’ gender or the analysed shoulder movement, the following variables were repeated: peak torque, total work, average power, and average peak torque. Unfortunately, the results were not statistically significant. Only acceleration time of the left shoulder in the arm flexion movement in males was significant. Despite this, once the muscular groups are similar for the listed strength variables, the swimmer’s capability to produce force out of water seems to help them perform better in the water.

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 54%

The relationship between swimming performance and isokinetic shoulder strength of elite swimmers

Wiażewicz¹,

Eider²

2021

“…In this case, the first quar-tile was the one with the fastest swimmers and the fourth quartile involved the slowest swimmers. this procedure occurred separately for male and female swimmers because their performances, as expected [31], were significantly different (F(1, 29) = 8.916, p = 0.006). In other words, male and female swimmers were grouped depending on the performance quartiles rather than the absolute values of performance.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 67%

The hierarchical organization of arm stroke in a 400-m freestyle swimming race

Freudenheim¹,

Madureira²,

Corrêa³

2021

Purpose. Arm stroke is a key variable of successful performance in front crawl swimming. In the present study, the effects of the arm stroke on the front crawl swimming performance were analysed by considering the complementarity of macroconsistency and micro-variability in the arm stroke as a hierarchically organized adaptive system. In this case, consistency is necessary to achieve outcomes reliably, and variability is fundamental for coping with environmental instability. Methods. Displacements of swimmers (n = 31) who competed in the 400-m freestyle race of the Paulista Master championship were captured in 4 moments (partial races 1-4). From the aerial and aquatic phases of the left and right arm strokes, macrostructure (components' relative timing) and microstructure (components' overall time) had their variability rates cal cu lated for all partial races on the basis of the biological coefficients of variation. Results. It was revealed that swimmers: (i) increased consistency of macrostructure related to the left arm aerial phase stroke in the final race; (ii) maintained consistency of microstructure across races; and (iii) presented macrostructure with inferior rate of variability to the microstructure in the final race. Conclusions. Given these results, coaches should emphasize instruction for swimmers to maintain the temporal relationship among arm stroke components (macrostructure) rather than focus on the components themselves (microstructure).

Effect of a short ischaemic preconditioning protocol on 100-m front crawl performance

Queiros¹,

Dantas²,

Teixeira³

et al. 2021

PurposeThe aim of our study was to analyse the effect of a single-cycle ischaemic preconditioning (IPC) protocol on performance in the 100-m front crawl swimming modality.MethodsOverall, 16 swimmers were recruited: 8 female athletes (12.9 ± 0.88 years) and 8 male athletes (13.1 ± 0.88 years). In a randomized crossover design, all participants performed a 100-m front crawl sprint preceded by an IPC or placebo cycle. In the IPC trial, a pneumatic cuff was attached to the proximal thigh and was inflated at a pressure equivalent to 80% of arterial occlusion and remained inflated for 5 min (ischaemia); in the placebo trial, the cuff remained inflated for the same amount of time, but at low external pressure levels (20 mm Hg). The volunteers started the test 5 min after cuff pressure release (reperfusion).ResultsIt was not possible to verify significant differences within the time (seconds) required to complete the test between the IPC and placebo interventions (75.68 ± 7.2 and 75.75 ± 8.1 s, respectively; p = 0.916).ConclusionsTherefore, we can conclude that the tested IPC protocol does not seem to be sufficient to provide performance improvement in 100-m front crawl in young athletes.