In this episode, Dr. John is joined with two leading researchers in shoulder injury prevention in swimmers. Dr. Boettcher and Dr. Ginn discuss their latest study on shoulder strength ratios in elite swimmers.
Injury Screening for Swimmers
Injury screens were recently popularized with the functional movement screen (FMS). In fact, we created a comprehensive guide for injury screening for swimmers in our Dryland for Swimmers book. We created this as we felt the land-based tests weren’t predictable of swimming due to the novelties of the motions in the pool. One of the most effective methods to reduce …
Hand Paddle Training Doesn’t Change Biomechanics
Using hand paddles during swimming is a common practice in the sport. Although many swim coaches use hand paddles for training, do they consider how swimming hand paddle training influences swimming biomechanics? Utilizing paddles during training likely will alter biomechanics, but how does the paddle size change biomechanics? Shouldn’t this be a consideration considering the arms produce approximately 85% of …
Strength Training Improves Swimming Starts, for some
Strength training and swimming have always been a debated topic. In fact, some argue that strength training and/or plyometrics are not beneficial for swimming performance. I personally performed a comprehensive strength training for swimming review and produced Dryland for Swimmers. However, new research is evolving and new research on how strength training improves swimming starts was recently published. Strength Training …
Does L-Citrulline Improve Swimming Performance?
Supplements with performance-enhancing claims are very common. But recently the supplement L-citrulline has received more attention, begging the question does L-citrulline improve swimming performance? Supplements augmenting nitric oxide are very popular. It has been postulated that augmenting nitric oxide (NO) synthesis through nutritional supplementation may improve muscular function, resistance to fatigue during exercise, and recovery processes after exercise. Enhanced NO …
Do Olympic Female Swimmers Pace Properly?
Watching any high-level swim meet and the casual observer would assume the Olympic female swimmers pace properly. However, many elite coaches will discuss how swimmer’s didn’t “swim their own race” or we’ve all heard coaches say “they went out too slow”. With all the hours of training and swimming do Olympic female swimmers pace properly? This sounds absurd at the …
Elite Swimmers Are Superior at the Swim Turn to Subelite Swimmers
The swim turn is usually divided into 5 distinct stages that include (a) inward-turn, (b) rotation, (c) push-off, (d) underwater, and (d) outward-turn. Past research suggests swimmers with higher peak forces have faster turn time, reduced wall contact time, and greater mean impulse than slower swimmers (Blanksby 1996; Chow 1984; Takahashi 1982). However, more modern research is needed to analyze …
How Much Swimming Recovery Do you Need After 100, 200, and 400-m Distance Freestyle Races?
Recovery and warm-up is a significant component of any swimming race. Many realize different race distances stress the body differently, yet many perform the same warm-down no matter the race difference. During competitions, swimmers often perform multiple races over various periods of length. some swimmers will compete 4 – 6 times over a course of 6 hours. Others will race …
What is the Perfect Backstroke Body?
Ideal body shape and structure is a common topic in swimming communities. It is most common for coaches to use their subjective eye when deciding if a swimmer has the perfect backstroke body (somatyape). A recent study by Sammoud (2018) assessed the key physical characteristics of young backstroke swimmers. The goal of this study was to determine what factors predict …
Friday Interview: Dr. Jan Prins Speaks on Competitive Swimming
Something unique for our readers in this week’s interview. What follows are notes from a phone interview I conducted with Dr. Jan Prins, Ph.D. Dr. Prins is the Director of the Aquatic Research Laboratory at the University of Hawaii at Manoa along with Founder and Editor-In-Chief of the Journal of Swimming Research. He is one of the contributors to The Swim …