The shoulder is the primary site of injury in swimmers, but the low back is the second most commonly injured site. In fact, ~8% of those competing at a 2001 International competition experienced low back pain. Kaneoka (2007) noted thirty-eight (68%) elite swimmers and 11 (29%) controls had degenerated discs at various levels. Disc level L5-S1 was more frequently degenerated …
3 Questions to Ask Yourself Regarding your Swimming Training Program
Overreaching is the close cousin of overtraining We’ve previously discussed in detail the negative effects of overtraining. Also, anyone in sports understands the importance of training hard and pushing oneself, ideally for the super-compensation effect. However, the effect balance of swimming training and rest for maximizing overreaching, while minimizing overtraining is extremely difficult. In swimming, many teams perform macrocycles of approximately 3 months, …
4 Strategies Swimmers Can Learn From Divers
Take home points1) By observing the diving culture, swimmers can hold themselves to a higher standard with feedback and visualization to improve technical quality in the pool2) Though energy systems are very different, swimmers can learn from the high standard of technical execution in diving3) Despite being an early specialization sport, most divers have a background in gymnastics and dance …
50-m Free Time Trial in Morning and Evening Result in no Performance Difference in Elite Swimmers
Based on the circadian rhythms of hormone levels, gene expression, and core body temperature, it could be expected that the best performance in terms of strength, flexibility, alertness, and anaerobic power output occurs in the late afternoon. Indeed, improvements of 3.6% for 50 m, 1.9% for 100 m, and 0.8% for 400 m swimming performance were observed in the afternoon/evening …
Effect of Squat Depth and Load on Muscular Effort
The squat is a popular dry-land exercise for swimming. This is likely due to the numerous muscles involved and the common belief this motion mimics a flip turn (despite contradictory research). However, the effect the depth and load on the squat are unknown. Muscle force is hard to measure, therefore motion analysis techniques combined with the equations to solve for …
Auditory feedback helps adapt to altered environment
Providing feedback during practice and competitions is common in all sports. Despite the difficulty of providing feedback during swimming, coaches and teammates commonly provide numerous visual and auditory cues. Sensory substitution is the skill of the nervous system to receive input from one sensory system and transmit this information to another sensory system. For example, in swimming the sensory system …
Comparing Sprint and Strength Training Methods
Resistance training is a common mode in dry-land to enhance out of water strength. Despite the lack of correlation between out of water strength and in water strength, many programs have found anecdotal success with resistance training. This is likely due to poor methods correlating in water strength and poor resistance training programs. Moreover, most studies comparing resistance training have …
Friday Interview: Jernej Kapus Discusses Breathing
1. Please introduce yourself to the readers (how you started in the profession, education, credentials, experience, etc.). I am coming from Ljubljana, Slovenia. I’m an Assistant Professor at the University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Sport. I spent most of my childhood in competitive swimming. My swimming career was ended during the third year of study at the University of Ljubljana, …
Core Stability Improves Throwing Velocity
Core stability and strength are thought to improve performance in various sports. In handball, the thrower is believed to use their core during maximal throwing performances. This study looked at the results of core training on throwing velocity performance. What was done Twenty-four female high-school handball players (16.6 years) were divided into a sling exercise training (ST) or a control …
Future of Swimming Training
Smart technology is on the verge of dramatically enhancing swimming performance, be ready for the revolution. Swimming is one of the most biomechanically difficult sports. Unlike other sports, swimming works against water while in a horizontal position. The unfamiliar horizontal position makes all stroke corrections more difficult. Water also creates resistance during any motion, making improvements harder! This motion creates …