Effects of Dry-Land Strength and Conditioning Programs in Age Group Swimmers

Abstract

Amaro, NM, Marinho, DA, Marques, MC, Batalha, N, and Morouço, PG. Effects of dry-land strength and conditioning programs in age group swimmers. J Strength Cond Res 31(9): 2447-2454, 2017-Even though dry-land S&C training is a common practice in the context of swimming, there are countless uncertainties over its effects in performance of age group swimmers. The objective was to investigate the effects of dry-land S&C programs in swimming performance of age group swimmers. A total of 21 male competitive swimmers (12.7 ± 0.7 years) were randomly assigned to the Control group (n = 7) and experimental groups GR1 and GR2 (n = 7 for each group). Control group performed a 10-week training period of swim training alone, GR1 followed a 6-week dry-land S&C program based on sets and repetitions plus a 4-week swim training program alone and GR2 followed a 6-week dry-land S&C program focused on explosiveness, plus a 4-week program of swim training alone. Results for the dry-land tests showed a time effect between week 0 and week 6 for vertical jump (p < 0.01) in both experimental groups, and for the GR2 ball throwing (p < 0.01), with moderate to strong effect sizes. The time × group analyses showed that for performance in 50 m, differences were significant, with the GR2 presenting higher improvements than their counterparts (F = 4.156; p = 0.007; (Equation is included in full-text article.)= 0.316) at week 10. Concluding, the results suggest that 6 weeks of a complementary dry-land S&C training may lead to improvements in dry-land strength. Furthermore, a 4-week adaptation period was mandatory to achieve beneficial transfer for aquatic performance. Additional benefits may occur if coaches plan the dry-land S&C training focusing on explosiveness.

Land Based Resistance Training and Youth Swimming Performance

“…The duration of the training programme within this study was similar to the present investigation, suggesting that a longer duration is needed to elicit significant improvements in swimming performance. This is somewhat supported by the recent findings of Amaro, et al [31] who found that a 6-week strength and conditioning programme significantly improved dry-land performance (vertical jump and ball throw) in male prepubescent swimmers. No significant improvements in swim performance (50 m freestyle) were found immediately following the 6-week programme, however, after a 4-week adaptation period the experimental group did improve their swimming performance (p = 0.03).…”

“…Although this is somewhat speculative, the decrease in fat free mass (kg) and muscle mass (kg) in the male participants (p < 0.05) and lack of changes in the female participants (p > 0.05) over the 7 weeks suggests that muscle hypertrophy was not a significant factor in the increase in strength and power and that the improvements were in fact primarily due to improvements in neuromuscular efficiency [30]. There is a common perception among some swim coaches that resistance training will have a negative impact swimming efficiency due to increased drag forces resulting from excessive muscle hypertrophy and a decrease in flexibility [31]. However, in line with the present findings, evidence suggests strength gains in prepubescent individuals are primarily due to neuromuscular changes [32] and researchers and qualified strength and conditioning coaches should work to alleviate this misconception and promote the benefits of resistance training for young athletes [32].…”

A systematic review on dry-land strength and conditioning training on swimming performance

“…The ability to apply force in water is crucial in competitive swimming [1][2][3][4][5], particularly in short distances events [6,7]. As well as high values of strength and power, mostly in the upper body, have been identified as a determinant factor for success in competitive swimming [8][9][10].…”

“…As well as high values of strength and power, mostly in the upper body, have been identified as a determinant factor for success in competitive swimming [8][9][10]. Dry-land strength and conditioning (S&C) training can improve swimming performance [1,8,9,[11][12][13][14][15], increase tethered swimming force [8,16] and technical parameters such as increased stroke length [11,14] and stroke rate [14]. Therefore, S&C training is common in swimming prescription [17], being dry-land S&C an alternative to in-water procedures, even if its specificity is questioned [18].…”

“…Studies examining the effects of S&C on swimming performance have been conducted over the last 30 years, but its overall impact remains inconclusive [16,18,24]. While some of these investigations showed improvements in swimming starts and turns, and 25 m, 50 m, 400 m freestyle swimming races [1,8,9,[11][12][13][14][15], others did not [10,16,18,[24][25][26][27]. The transferability of dry-land S&C gains to swimming performance remains unclear and it is suggested to be a crucial factor for the absent of positive results.…”