Lower-body strength, power and sprint front crawl performance

Abstract

To determine the association between lower-body strength and lower-body power capacities with sprint swimming performance in adolescent competitive swimmers. A total of 44 front crawl swimmers (27 males and 17 females) performed anthropometric assessments, lower-body strength tests (half squat maximum isometric strength, dynamic half squat with 20, 30 and 40 % of the maximum isometric strength, and knee extension maximum isometric strength) and lower-body power tests (squat jump [SJ], countermovement jump [CMJ] and Abalakov jump). Further front crawl swimming best times in 50 and 100 m were recorded from official swimming competitions and front crawl technique was assessed by an experienced coach using a visual analogue scale. Swimming performance was correlated with lower-body power variables (SJ [r=−0.573 for 50 m and −0.642 for 100 m], CMJ [r=−0.497 for 50 m and −0.544 for 100 m], and Abalakov jump [r=−0.452 for 50 m and −0.415 for 100 m]; p≤0.05) and lower-body strength (half squat maximum isometric strength [r=−0.430 for 50 m and −0.443 for 100 m]; p≤0.05) in males but not in females. Further linear regression models showed that only lower-body power predicted both 50 m (Abalakov jump; r2=0.58; change in r2=0.18) and 100 m (SJ; r2=0.66; change in r2=0.15) performance in male swimmers. This study emphasizes the greater association between lower-body power and sprint front crawl performance in adolescent males compared to females. Practical tests (i.e., SJ and Abalakov jump) are shown to predict front crawl swimming performance, which may facilitate the performance control by coaches and trainers.