Post high intensity pull-over semi-tethered swimming potentiation in national competitive swimmers

Abstract

BACKGROUNDː The swimming community has shown considerable interest in using dryland warm-ups as a method of impacting performance. This study compared the effects of high-resistance pullover and swimming warm-up in semi-tethered resisted swimming. METHODSː An incremental-load semi-tethered swimming test was individually administered in 20 national-competitive swimmers to determine the load maximizing swimming power. In different sessions, participants tested such a load 6 min after a swimming warm-up (SWU) or a dry-land warm-up (DLWU: 3 pullover reps at 85% of the one-repetition maximum). Kinetic variables (velocity, force, acceleration, impulse, power rate of force development (RFD) and intra-cycle variation), were obtained with a linear encoder through trapezoidal integration regarding time. Kinematic variables (distance, time, stroke-rate and stroke-length), were obtained by video recordings. The differences between protocols were observed by paired-samples T-test (ANOVA). Pearson's coefficient explored correlations between kinetics and kinematics variables; significance was set at P<0.05. RESULTSː DLWU increased RFD (34.52±16.55 vs. 31.29±13.70 N/s; Δ=9.35%) and stroke-rate (64.70±9.84 vs. 61.56 ± 7.07 Hz; Δ=5.10%) compared to SWU, but decreased velocity, force, acceleration, impulse and power. During the incremental-load test velocity and power were higher than obtained after SWU (1.21±0.14 vs. 1.17±0.12 m/s; Δ=3.06%), (51.38±14.93 vs. 49.98±15.40 W; Δ=2.72%), suggesting enhancements prompted by the test itself. Correlations between stroke-length with impulse (r=0.76) and power (r=0.75) associated kinetics with kinematics. CONCLUSIONSː Potentiation responses were present after the dry-land warm-up. However, swimmers may benefit more from submaximal prolonged conditioning activities such as resisted swimming rather than high-resistance dry-land sets to obtain performance enhancements.

Effect of Different Types of Warm-up on Strength and Skin Temperature of Paralympic Powerlifting Athletes

“…Speed, force, acceleration, impulse, rate of force development (RFD) were evaluated. Warm-up on land with higher loads increased RFD (34.52 ± 16.55 vs. 31.29 ± 13.70 N / s; Δ = 9.35%) and stroke rate (64.70 ± 9, 84 vs. 61.56 ± 7.07 Hz; Δ = 5.10%) compared to traditional water warm-up, but decreased speed, strength, acceleration, impulse and power [57]. That is, traditional warm-up can decrease the impulse, and lighter warm-up tends not to decrease the impulse.…”

Are Strength Indicators and Skin Temperature Affected by the Type of Warm-Up in Paralympic Powerlifting Athletes?

“…Speed, force, acceleration, impulse, rate of force development (RFD) were evaluated. Warm-up on land with higher loads increased RFD (34.52 ± 16.55 vs. 31.29 ± 13.70 N/s; ∆ = 9.35%), and stroke rate (64.70 ± 9.84 vs. 61.56 ± 7.07 Hz; ∆ = 5.10%) compared to traditional water warm-up but decreased speed, strength, acceleration, impulse and power [46]. That is, traditional warm-up can decrease the impulse, and a lighter warm-up tends not to decrease the impulse.…”

Post-Eccentric Flywheel Underwater Undulatory Swimming Potentiation in Competitive Swimmers

“…Nevertheless, eccentric actions activate elastic components in the muscle by the stretch-shortening cycle, increasing the production of force in subsequent actions ( Timon et al, 2019 ). In any case, some other recent approaches have shown acute enhancements of the neuromuscular function (~2%) by improvements in the aquatic thrust obtained after dry-land warm-ups ( Barbosa et al, 2020 ; Cuenca-Fernández et al, 2020 ; Ng et al, 2020 ). It should be noted that the aquatic thrust does not essentially represent the effective propulsive force generated by the body, but the increase in the force conveyed per stroke against the water ( Barbosa et al, 2020 ).…”

“…However, the main regulatory PAPE responses have been recently unrelated to the localized effects caused by post-activation potentiation (PAP) ( Blazevich and Babault, 2019 ; Cuenca-Fernández et al, 2017 ), a muscle response mechanism originated from the localized contraction-induced effects in the muscle-myosin head phosphorylation ( Vandenboom, 2011 ). Thus, there is no evidence supporting the need to achieve full simulation of the real movement during conditioning protocols to induce PAPE, but rather evidence in favor of sufficient stimulation of the muscular system to achieve those responses ( Beato et al, 2019 ; Boullosa et al, 2020 ; Cuenca-Fernández et al, 2020 ).…”

“…In this regard, although applying this type of the activation protocol seems unfeasible in competition (a specific piece of equipment is required while athletes are waiting in the call-room); the superior influence of these procedures in stimulating the lower limbs musculature has been demonstrated under experimental conditions ( Beato et al, 2019 ; Maroto-Izquierdo et al, 2017 ; Timon et al, 2019 ; Stanula et al, 2012 ). In any case, other warm-up interventions have also attempted acute short-term enhancements in different components of the swimming race such as: the swimming stroke kinematics ( Neiva et al, 2014 ; Sarramian et al, 2015 ), the stroke kinetics ( Barbosa et al, 2020 ; Cuenca-Fernández et al, 2020 ; Neiva et al, 2011 ), and the leg-kicking thrust ( Ng et al, 2020 ), revealing the warm-up’s importance in stimulating the physiological and biomechanical adjustments intended for the race ( Neiva et al, 2014 ).…”