Relation of 25-meter Swimming Performance with Physical Properties and Isokinetic Knee Strength in Amateur Young Swimmers

Year 2017, Volume 5 - Issue 2, 68 - 75, 30.06.2017

Bircan Dokumacı Cihan Aygün Hayriye Çakır Atabek

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between physical properties,
isokinetic knee strength and swimming performance in young amateur athletes. Seventeen 18-
24 year old amateur swimmers (n=13 males, mean age=20.0 ± 2.1 years; n=4 females, mean
age=21.5 ± 1.7 years) volunteered to participate in this study. All athletes were member of the
same team who were engaged to the swim training at least for 4 years. Following the 5-min
warm up session, each participant performed three submaximal trials for familiarization and
warm-up purposes, and then five maximal trials at three angular velocities: 60, 120, and
180ᵒ/s. A 30-s time interval was provided between familiarization and test session, whereas a
2-min rest period was given between each test velocity. A 25-m swimming performance was
recorded in semi-olympic swimming pool, under race conditions. The results demonstrated
that there was a statistically significant inverse relationship between height, body mass, BMI,
and swimming performance (p<0.05 and 0.01), also, there was a significant inverse
relationship between isokinetic knee strength and swimming performance (p<0.01). However,
there is no significant differences between H/Q ratio and 25-m swimming performance
(p>0.05). In conclusion, the lower limb muscle strength is as important as upper limb muscle
strength and a combination of lower limb muscle strength and anthropometric variables are
important for sprint swimming performance. 

Keywords

Swimming, amateur athletes, isokinetic strength, performance

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