Interview Assessment Task 1

Amy-Leigh Williams
 Strength Requirements
• Swimming is highly dependent on;
– Muscle strength
– Power
• Focusing on the 3 main phases in swimming and how
they require different strength qualities.
Start
– A strong start can account for approximately 30% of a
50m race.
– Increasing vertical and horizontal forces applied during a
block start allows swimmers to jump as far as possible
and travel the maximum distance at the highest velocity.
– Highlighting the need for improving strength and power
including rate of force development for improved swim
performance.
– Improving LB strength through maximal strength
exercises (i.e. 1RM back squat) is significantly correlated
with the time to 15m as well as peak vertical force and
peak horizontal force.
 Free Swim
• Low volume and high resistance training are required to overcome the
hydrodynamic resistance by improving propulsive forces.
• Gold standard UB strength tests such as 1RM bench press and 1RM pull up are
ideal to test push and pull strength.
• Checking these ratios is critical as appropriate levels may optimize movement
accuracy throughout the stroke which can potentially reduce drag.
• The majority of force from the UB is being applied from the athletes back
muscles.
• Excessive training of the chest muscles can be counter-productive as this
muscle group would be applying force in the wrong direction.
 Free Swim
• An increase in speed can be improved through extending stroke length and
stroke frequency.
• Both benefit from increased levels of maximal strength.
• Increasing stroke length;
• Strength training increases the single impulse through maximal strength
development.
• Optimising stroke frequency;
• An increase in frequency (the number of impulses per unit of time) is
expected in athletes with low maximum strength.
• Studies have reported that muscular strength correlated significantly with
swim velocity, and UB muscular strength output highly correlated with swim
velocity over short swimming distances.
Turn
– Improvements in strength are correlated to improved
times in both sprint and middle distance events.
• As LB strength is required for improved turn performance.
– LB strength and power are significantly related to
improved swim time of 15m.
• Therefore, improve maximal strength levels for enhanced
turns.
– Improvements in strength levels and speed strength
can increase turn velocities.
• This can be achieved through improving jump
performance as well as maximum LB strength.
 Postural Requirements
• Approximately 55% of all injuries in competitive swimming affects the
shoulder.
• A goal of the strength program - reduce the occurrence of shoulder pain and
swimmers shoulder through stretching and strengthening.
• Changes in muscle length in the UB can occur due to the repetitive rotation of
the upper extremities.
• As most training is performed swimming freestyle; the anterior musculature is
used to generate power in the water.
– A decrease in the subacromial space distance increases the mechanical
compression on the contents of the subacromial space and increases the
risk for developing an impingement and swimmer’s shoulder.
 Postural Requirements
• Faulty postural alignment and poor posture over time can lead to excessive amounts of stress on the tissues
that contribute to shoulder pain.
• Muscle imbalances can alter biomechanics and contribute to secondary impingement, joint instability, and
fatigue.
• The high levels of training in the early weeks of the training season can cause muscle fatigue, muscle imbalance,
or tightness in the shoulder musculature, altering scapular kinematics.
– This pattern of scapular kinematics and decreased muscular strength can put the athletes at an increased
risk for shoulder impingement due to the increased contact of the acromion and rotator cuff tendons from
decreased subacromial space.
• Postural misalignments such as these can be indicated by tight pectoral muscles coupled with weakness of the
middle and lower trapezius.
• The constant use of the pectoralis major can cause adaptive shortening of the muscle, thus causing the
shoulder girdle to be positioned more anteriorly.
– This anterior pull on the shoulder girdle puts the posterior muscles on a constant stretch that eventually
causes them to lengthen and weaken contributing to postural misalignments.
 Postural Requirements
• High occurrences of postural asymmetries in swimming it is beneficial to increase strength
of the posterior musculature of the shoulder and scapulae and stretching the anterior
chest muscles to correct these asymmetries.
• This can be implemented before and during dry-land and strength sessions.
• The strength and stretching program can be completed using resistance bands with the
exercises included focusing on;
– Scapular retraction
– Shoulder external rotation
– Shoulder flexion.
• As well as stretching of the pectoralis minor and major in an attempt to decrease forward
shoulder posture to promote the correct postural alignment for optimal swimming
performance.
 Postural Requirements
• Movement and forces of the extremities creates high forces acting on the trunk, it is up
to the trunk muscles to control the extremities and transfer the forces to ensure efficient
locomotion.
• The constant transferring of forces between extremities requires support from the
musculature of the trunk to maintain the kinetic chain and postural alignments of the
body intact.
• Weak trunk muscles can limit an athlete’s performance in the water.
• In creasing maximal strength through heavy RM exercises can possibly be good
performance predictors for some sprint swim styles.
• Strong trunk muscles will aid improvements in maximal LB and UB strength as well as
aiding the correction and maintenance of postural control during swimming (i.e.
streamline position).
Timeline to Tokyo 2020