Research Center in Sports Sciences, Health Sciences and Human Development

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A systematic review on dry-land strength and conditioning training on swimming performance

Publication . Amaro, N.M.; Morouço, P.G.; Marques, M.C.; Batalha, N.; Neiva, Henrique P.; Marinho, D.A.

Objectives. — The objective of this review was to examine the effects of dry-land strength and conditioning (S&C) training on swimming, and starts and turns performances. News. — S&C training is a common practice in swimming aiming to enhance performance or to prevent injuries. However, studies regarding the effects of S&C on swimming performance are scarce; the influence of age, gender or competitive level is even scarcer. Prospects and projects. — After a structured literature search, sixteen studies were included in the current review. Of those, seven did not report any positive or negative effects on swimming performance. Contrarily, most studies with positive effects were conducted with older swimmers whereas maximal strength was the most effective methodology for improving swimming performance. S&C plyometric training is suggested to be the most effective method to improve starts and turns. Future Randomized Controlled Trials should be conducted to explorethe effects of S&C induced by age and gender, on different swimming distances and techniques,and long-term training effects.Conclusion. — It is recommended that S&C training should be based on maximal strength, rangingfrom six to twelve weeks of 2 to 4 sessions per week (approximately 24 sessions altogether). Ineach session, coaches should vary from 2 to 3 sets and 3 to 5 repetitions, according to prescribedintensity. Rest intervals should range between 2 to 5 minutes and the intensity should be from 80to 90% of 1RM. Particularly regarding improving starts and turns, a S&C training regime rangingfrom 6 to 8 weeks and with 2 sessions per week is suggested. In each session, swimmers shouldperform between 1 and 6 sets and 1 and 10 repetitions, according to the established intensity.Rest between sets should range from 60 to 90 seconds. The swimmers in the included studiesare mostly men which do not allow to say if the recommendations made are gender-dependent.© 2018 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

2019-02Journal article

Open access

The variations on the aerodynamics of a world-ranked wheelchair sprinter in the key moments of the stroke cycle: A numerical simulation analysis

Publication . Forte, Pedro; Marinho, Daniel A.; Morais, Jorge E.; Morouço, Pedro; Barbosa, Tiago M.

Biomechanics plays an important role helping Paralympic sprinters to excel, having the aerodynamic drag a significant impact on the athlete’s performance. The aim of this study was to assess the aerodynamics in different key-moments of the stroke cycle by Computa tional Fluid Dynamics. A world-ranked wheelchair sprinter was scanned on the racing wheelchair wearing his competition gear and helmet. The sprinter was scanned in three different positions: (i) catch (hands in the 12h position on the hand-rim); (ii) the release (hands in the 18h position on the hand-rim) and; (iii) recovery phase (hands do not touch the hand rim and are hyperextended backwards). The simulations were performed at 2.0, 3.5, 5.0 and 6.5 m/s. The mean viscous and pressure drag components, total drag force and effec tive area were retrieved after running the numerical simulations. The viscous drag ranged from 3.35 N to 2.94 N, pressure drag from 0.38 N to 5.51 N, total drag force from 0.72 N to 8.45 N and effective area from 0.24 to 0.41 m2. The results pointed out that the sprinter was submitted to less drag in the recovery phase, and higher drag in the catch. These findings suggest the importance of keeping an adequate body alignment to avoid an increase in the drag force.

2018Journal article

Open access

Estimation of mechanical power and energy cost in elite wheelchair racing by analytical procedures and numerical simulations

Publication . Forte, Pedro; Marinho, Daniel A.; Morais, Jorge E.; Morouço, Pedro; Barbosa, Tiago M.

The aim was to compare the mechanical power and energy cost of an elite wheelchair sprinter in the key-moments of the stroke cycle. The wheelchair-athlete system was 3D scanned and then computational fluid dynamics was used to estimate the drag force. Mechanical power and energy cost were derived from a set of formulae. The effective area in the catch, release and recovery phases were 0.41 m2, 0.33 m2 and 0.24 m2, respectively. Drag increased with speed and varied across the key-moments. The catch required the highest total power (range: 62.76–423.46 W), followed-up by the release (61.50–407.85 W) and the recovery (60.09–363.89 W).

2018Journal article

Open access

Effects of Dry-Land Strength and Conditioning Programs in Age Group Swimmers

Publication . Amaro, Nuno M.; Marinho, Daniel A.; Marques, Mário C.; Batalha, Nuno P.; Morouço, Pedro G.

Amaro, NM, Marinho, DA, Marques, MC, Batalha, N, and Morouc¸o, PG. Effects of dry-land strength and conditioning programs in age group swimmers. J Strength Cond Res 31(9): 2447–2454, 2017 —Even though dry-land S&C training is a common practice in the context of swimming, there are countless uncertainties over its effects in performance of age group swimmers. The objective was to investigate the effects of dry-land S&C programs in swim ming performance of age group swimmers. A total of 21 male competitive swimmers (12.7 6 0.7 years) were randomly assigned to the Control group (n = 7) and experimental groups GR1 and GR2 (n = 7 for each group). Control group performed a 10-week training period of swim training alone, GR1 followed a 6-week dry land S&C program based on sets and repetitions plus a 4-week swim training program alone and GR2 followed a 6-week dry-land S&C program focused on explosiveness, plus a 4-week program of swim training alone. Results for the dry-land tests showed a time effect between week 0 and week 6 for vertical jump (p , 0.01) in both experimental groups, and for the GR2 ball throwing (p , 0.01), with moderate to strong effect sizes. The time 3 group analyses showed that for performance in 50 m, differences were significant, with the GR2 presenting higher improvements than their counterparts (F = 4.156; p = 0.007; h2 p = 0.316) at week 10. Concluding, the results suggest that 6 weeks of a complemen tary dry-land S&C training may lead to improvements in dry-land strength. Furthermore, a 4-week adaptation period was mandatory to achieve beneficial transfer for aquatic performance. Additional benefits may occur if coaches plan the dry-land S&C training focusing on explosiveness.

2017-09Journal article

Open access