Jumping Abilities and Swimming Grab-Start Performances in Elite and Recreational Swimmers

Abstract

This study examined the relationships between the performances of a swimming grab start and each of countermovement jump for distance, countermovement jump for height, squat jump for distance, and squat jump for height. Nine elite and 7 recreational female swimmers performed 6 trials in each of the 4 jumping techniques and six 25-m freestyle sprints after a grab start. Elite participants performed significantly better in the start performances, and this was attributed to the greater horizontal impulse. Correlations in the elite group revealed that grab-start performance was not related to performance of any jumps. This suggests that the grab start is independent of the jumping techniques for this group, and performance of one skill might not translate to performance in the other. Significant correlations were found between performance of the grab start and the 4 jumps in the recreational group, possibly because of adoption of an "incorrect" motor pattern that might be similar to those of the jumps. This study highlighted the importance of practicing the start as a whole skill during training.

The Relationship Between the Lower-Body Muscular Profile and Swimming Start Performance

“…On the other hand our results confirm the findings of some previous studies which showed that on land tests were more related to shorter times, i.e. time to swim to 5 m or solely to the above water phase of start (Benjanuvatra et al, 2007). …”

“…Two distinct actions must be optimized during the block phase: a reaction to the start signal and a force impulse generated over the starting block (Benjanuvatra et al, 2007; Vantorre et al, 2014). A high force impulse results in a high push-off velocity and long flight distance meaning that the block phase strongly influences the flight and entry phases.…”

Biomechanische Grundlagen des Startsprungs im Schwimmen

“…Die unterschiedlichen Befunde könnten mit den unterschiedlichen Messmethoden erklärt werden 6. Insgesamt geht aus den vorliegenden Befunden hervor, dass unabhängig von der Absprungtechnik ein flacher Absprung zu einer guten Startleistung beiträgt 7. In ihrem Beitrag "Start right -a biomechanical review of dive start performance" verweisen Lyttle und Benjavanutra (2004) in ihrer Diskussion der bisher sehr uneinheitlichen Befundlage auf ein Argument vonHay (1988), demgemäß intraindividuelle Vergleiche der Absprungtechniken bei ein und derselben Stichprobe stets mit der bevorzugten als auch mit der nicht bevorzugten Starttechnik5 Unklar bleibt, warum Miller et al beim Abflug von einer völlig gestreckten Körperhaltung ausgehen.…”

The influence of explosive power on the performance of an elite swimmer in 25 and 50 metre pools

“…Even though, recent studies (Benjanuvatra, Edmunds, & Blanskby, 2007;Beretic et al, 2013;Cronin & Sleivert, 2005;Cronin, Jones, & Frost, 2007;Ďurovic, Beretic, & Okicic, 2015;Fig, 2010;Garrido et al, 2010;Haycraft & Robertson, 2015;Morouco, Gonzáles-Badillo, & Garrido, 2012) proved, that higher explosive power should correlate with higher performance, it was not confirmed in the case of our swimmer.…”