The purpose of the present study was to investigate the intra- and inter-individual variability in arm-leg coordination during the underwater phase of the turn segment in 200 m breaststroke. Thirteen male swimmers were recruited and performed a 200 m breaststroke in a pre-calibrated 25 m pool. Sub-phases during the underwater segment were obtained using a notational analysis, and the mean velocity, displacement and duration during each sub-phase were obtained. A hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) was performed using the analysed variables in all phases to identify inter-individual variability and random intra-individual variability. In addition, a linear mixed model (LMM: lap as a fixed effect and the participant as a random effect) was conducted to investigate systematic intra-individual variability. HCA identified three coordination patterns that were distinguished by the timing of the dolphin kick relative to the arm pull-out and the duration of the glide with arms at the side. All swimmers except one performed the arm pull-out after the dolphin kick. Nine swimmers maintained one coordination pattern, but other swimmers switched their coordination during the trial, particularly by shortening the duration of the glide with arms at the side. LMM showed a linear decrease (from the first to the last turn) in the time gap between the end of the dolphin kick and the start of the arm pull-out (a glide with the streamlined body position; F = 9.64, p = 0.034) and the glide duration with the arms at the side (F = 11.66, p = 0.015). In conclusion, both inter- and intra-individual variabilities during the underwater phase were evident in 200 m breaststroke turns, which were categorised into three patterns based on the timing of the dolphin kick and the duration of glides.
- MeSH
- bérec * MeSH
- biomechanika MeSH
- lidé MeSH
- paže MeSH
- plavání * MeSH
- postura těla MeSH
- Check Tag
- lidé MeSH
- mužské pohlaví MeSH
- Publikační typ
- časopisecké články MeSH
The purpose of the present study was to investigate differences between world-class individual medley (IM) swimmers and stroke-specialists using race analyses. A total of eighty 200 m races (8 finalists × 2 sexes × 5 events) at the 2021 European long-course swimming championships were analysed. Eight digital video cameras recorded the races, and the video footage was manually analysed to obtain underwater distance, underwater time, and underwater speed, as well as clean-swimming speed, stroke rate, and distance per stroke. Each lap of the IM races was compared with the first, second, third, and fourth laps of butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, and freestyle races, respectively. Differences between IM swimmers and specialists in each analysed variable were assessed using an independent-sample t-test, and the effects of sex and stroke on the differences were analysed using a two-way analysis of variance with relative values (IM swimmers' score relative to the mean specialists' score) as dependent variables. Breaststroke specialists showed faster clean-swimming speed and longer distance per stroke than IM swimmers for both males (clean-swimming speed: p = 0.011; distance per stroke: p = 0.023) and females (clean-swimming speed: p = 0.003; distance per stroke: p = 0.036). For backstroke and front crawl, specialists exhibited faster underwater speeds than IM swimmers (all p < 0.001). Females showed faster relative speeds during butterfly clean-swimming segments (p < 0.001) and breaststroke underwater segments than males (p = 0.028). IM swimmers should focus especially on breaststroke training, particularly aiming to improve their distance per stroke.
- MeSH
- kompetitivní chování * MeSH
- lidé MeSH
- plavání MeSH
- sexuální chování MeSH
- sportovní výkon * MeSH
- Check Tag
- lidé MeSH
- mužské pohlaví MeSH
- ženské pohlaví MeSH
- Publikační typ
- časopisecké články MeSH
OBJECTIVES: To investigate the arm-leg coordination from different perspectives of motor control during the underwater start sequence to understand whether differences exist between the three competitive breaststroke swimming events. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study. METHODS: Forty-one breaststroke races (with race times relative to the world record): 50-meter (n = 14, 87.6%), 100-meter (n = 14, 88.5%) and 200-meter (n = 13, 85.4%) were recorded. A race analysis system tracked the two-dimensional displacement of the head. Key points from the underwater start sequence were obtained from notational analysis in order to compute seven time-gaps and four phases to assess the arm-leg coordination and timing of the dolphin kick. A one-way ANOVA with Bonferroni post-hoc correction was used to assess differences between the time gaps and phases for the three events. RESULTS: Differences between the three events were found for total underwater glide, and the first (T0) and second (T1) major glide phase. No differences between the events were found in relative duration and distance for the time gaps related to arm-leg coordination (T1-3, T4, T6) and timing of the dolphin kick (T4-5) during the underwater start sequence. CONCLUSIONS: The arm-leg coordination and timing of the dolphin kick showed no difference between the events, but the total underwater glide duration was longer in both the 100- and 200-meter compared with the 50-meter start. This shows that swimmers did not change the complex inter-limb coordination between the competitive events, but only modified the least complex movement, gliding, to adapt to the swimming speed of the respective events.
In breaststroke races, the dolphin kick could finish before, at the same time, or during the arm pull-out, but it is unclear how swimmers perform this technique. The aim of this study was to investigate whether swimmers glide between the dolphin kick and arm pull-out, favour continuity or even overlap those two phases, as it would impact the active underwater sequence. Fourteen international and national male swimmers performed 100-m breaststroke with all-out effort in a pre-calibrated 25 m swimming pool. A multi-camera system tracked the head of the swimmers. Key points of the active underwater sequence were obtained from notational analysis. A hierarchical cluster analysis identified three coordination profiles. All swimmers started their dolphin kick before the arm pull-out. However, one swimmer started the arm pull-out before the end of the dolphin kick, seven swimmers started the arm pull-out after the end of the dolphin kick, and four swimmers synchronised the beginning of the arm pull-out and the end of the dolphin kick, while two other swimmers mixed two coordination profiles among the start and the three turns. Those different profiles allow achieving similar performance outcome, suggesting individual training regarding the underwater phase.
- MeSH
- bérec MeSH
- biomechanika MeSH
- lidé MeSH
- paže * MeSH
- plavání * MeSH
- shluková analýza MeSH
- Check Tag
- lidé MeSH
- mužské pohlaví MeSH
- Publikační typ
- časopisecké články MeSH
