Weightlifting for Improved Swimming Performance

University of Michigan Strength and Conditioning - Olympic Sports

Katlyn HaycockMS, CSCS, SCCC, USAW-1

Strength and Conditioning Coach, Olympic Sports

Outline• Purpose• Kinetics and Kinematics• Movements Investigated▫ The Clean▫ The Snatch▫ The Track Start from the Blocks▫ The Flip Turn▫ The Dolphin Kick• How Will Weightlifting Help?• Areas for Further Research• References

Purpose• To examine the benefits of incorporating

weightlifting movements and their derivatives into a training program designed for swimmers. ▫ Specifically, this review analyzed biomechanical characteristics of the

track-style start from the blocks, the flip turn and the dolphin kick, along with the biomechanical characteristics of the two weightlifting movements, to determine whether adaptations made through training of the weightlifting movements would theoretically satisfy the physical requirements and potentially improve performance of the listed swimming elements.

Kinetics and Kinematics

• Kinetics- the study of the forces associated with motion, including forces causing motion and forces resulting from motion (Encyclopædia Britannica, 2013).

• Kinematics- the study of the motion of bodies with respect to time, displacement, velocity, and speed of movement either in a straight line or rotary direction (EncyclopædiaBritannica, 2013).

Kinetics and KinematicsKinetics Kinematics

• Displacement (flight, glide)• Velocity (angular)• Time (block, flight, glide)• Amplitude • Frequency

• Vertical Ground Reaction Force (Fz)

• Power (P) = F x V• Rate of Force Development

(RFD)• Impulse (J) = F∆T

The CleanKinetics & Kinematics Derivatives

• Power• Impulse• Rate of Force Development• Ground Reaction

Force

• Floor, Hang (knee, mid-thigh, power)

• Clean Pull (floor, hang)

The CleanPhysical Requirements

• Rapid generation of force (Power), strength

• Contraction of latissimus dorsiand teres major (Garhammer, 1984).

• 1 horse power = 746 W• Second pull is most explosive,

generates greatest force (Comfort, Udall & Jones, 2012).

▫ Up to 3,700 W (almost 5HP)• Joint kinetics- proper

organization of power production and absorption (Kipp, Redden, Sabick & Harris, 2012).

The SnatchKinetics and Kinematics Derivatives

• Work• Power• Impulse• Ground Reaction Force• Peak Force• Peak Velocity

• Floor, Hang (knee, mid-thigh, power)

• Snatch Pull (floor, hang)

The SnatchPhysical Requirements

• Great generation of muscular power (Gourgoulis, Aggelousis, Mavromatis & Garas, 2000).

• Quick turnover following second pull (Hadi, Akkuş & Harbili, 2012).

• Mobility

• Propulsion of BB ~ 1s• Female World Champion

Lifters (Akkuş, 2012)

▫ P (1st Pull) = 643 W▫ P (2nd Pull) = 1,848 W (almost

2.5HP)

(Track) Start from the BlocksKinetics and Kinematics

• Block Time• Flight Time• Flight Distance• Glide Time • Glide Distance• Velocity• Impulse

• Contributes up to 30% of total time in 50m sprint (Lyttle & Benjanuvatra, 2004).

• Maximize take-off velocity and minimize block time (Lyttle & Benjanuvatra, 2004).

(Track) Start from the BlocksPhysical Requirements

• Arms (strength) aid pre-tensing leg extensors and increasing loading of leg muscles (Breed & Young, 2002).

• Muscular leg power for quick generation of force at push-off (Miller, Hay & Wilson, 2007).

Men’s 50m Freestyle(2012 Olympic Trials - Nathan Adrian & Anthony Ervin)

The Flip TurnKinetics and Kinematics

• Time Into the Wall• Time Out of the Wall• Contact Time• Rotation Time• Streamline Time• Speed In• Speed Out

• Importance of walls in swimming, especially in the collegiate setting with the 25-yd SC

The Flip TurnPhysical Requirements

• Great force production when pushing off the wall (Bahadon, Mosavi, Hasannejad & Moradlo, 2012).

• Rapid extension of lower limbs with short wall contact time (Puel, Morlier, Avalos, Mesnard, Cid & Hellard, 2012).

Men’s 200 Freestyle (2012 Olympic Trials - Michael Phelps & Ryan Lochte)

The Dolphin KickKinetics and Kinematics

• Average Velocity• Kick Frequency• Kick Amplitude• Strouhal Number

The Dolphin KickPhysical Requirements

• Produce great propulsion and reverse directions quickly (Cohen, Cleary & Mason, 2012).

• Accelerate large mass of water with leg extension to generate thrust (von Loebbecke, Mittal, Fish & Mark, 2009).

• Focus on creating maximum thrust, which will de-prioritize efficiency (Hochstein & Blickhan, 2011).

Men’s 100m Butterfly (2012 Olympic Trials- Davis Tarwater & Michael Phelps)

How Will Weightlifting Help?• Improve RFD- starts, walls (Kipp, Harris & Sabick, 2011)

• Increase ability to generate power- starts, walls (Comfort, Allen & Graham-Smith, 2011) (Garhammer, 1985)

• Increase ability to generate a greater impulse- starts, walls (Seifert, Vantorre, Lemaitre, Chollet, Toussaint & Vilas-Boas, 2010)

• Increase explosive strength- starts, walls, dolphin kick (Akkuş, 2012)

• Increase overall strength to be more propulsive- dolphin kick (Miller, Hay & Wilson, 2007)

• Coordinated, organized power production- starts, dolphin kick (Kipp, Redden, Sabick & Harris, 2012)

Areas for Further Research• Relationship between knee extension seen in

weightlifting and the knee extension in dolphin kick (absence of ground force in water)?• Studies that have training programs

incorporating the lifts and tracking improvements in starts, wall times or underwater kicking times

References• Encyclopædia Britannica. (2013). Kinetics. Retrieved from

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/318197/kinetics• Encyclopædia Britannica. (2013). Kinematics. Retrieved from

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/318099/kinematics• The CLEAN• Comfort, P., Allen, M., & Graham-Smith, P. (2011). Kinetic comparisons during variations of

the power clean. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 25(12), 3269-3273.• Comfort, P., Udall, R., & Jones, P. A. (2012). The effect of loading on kinematic and kinetic

variables during the midthigh clean pull. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 26(5), 1208-1214.

• Garhammer, J. (1985). Biomechanical profiles of olympic weightlifters. International Journal of Sport Biomechanics, 1, 122-130.

• Garhammer, J. (1982). Energy flow during olympic weightlifting. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 14(5), 353-360.

• Garhammer, J. (1984). Power: Kinesiological evaluation.NSCA Journal, 40, 61-63.• Kipp, K., Harris, C., & Sabick, M. B. (2011). Lower extremity biomechanics during

weightlifting exercise vary across joint and load. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 25(5), 1229-1234.

• Kipp, K., Redden, J., Sabick, M., & Harris, C. (2012). Kinematic and kinetic synergies of the lower extremities during the pull in olympic weightlifting.Journal of Applied Biomechanics, 28, 271-278.

• Kipp, K., Redden, J., Sabick, M. B., & Harris, C. (2012). Weightlifting performance is related to kinematic ndn kinetic patterns of the hip and knee joints. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 26(7), 1838-1844.

References• The SNATCH• Akkuş, H. (2012). Kinematic analysis of the snatch lift with elite female weightlifters during the 2010 world

weightlifting championship. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 26(4), 897-905.• Gourgoulis, V., Aggelousis, N., Mavromatis, G., & Garas, A. (2000). Three-dimensional kinematic analysis of

the snatch of elite greek weightlifters. Journal of Sports Sciences, 18, 643-652. • Hadi, G., Akkuş, H., & Harbili, E. (2012). Three-dimensional kinematic analysis of the snatch for lifting

different barbell weights. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 26(6), 1568-1576.• Rossi, S. J., Buford, T. W., Smith, D. B., Kennel, R., Haff, E. E., & Haff, G. G. (2007). Bilateral comparison of

barbell kinetics and kinematics during a weightlifting competition. International Journal of Sports Physiology ndPerformance, 2, 150-158.

• The START• Breed, R. V. P., & Young, W. B. (2002). The effect of a resistance training program on the grab, track and

swing starts in swimming. Journal of Sports Sciences, 21, 213-220.• Lyttle, A., & Benjanuvatra, N. (2004, October 19). Start right? a biomechanical review of dive start performance.

Retrieved from http://coachesinfo.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=89:swimming-start-style&catid=49:swimming-coaching&Itemid=86

• Miller, J. A., Hay, J. G., & Wilson, B. D. (2007). Starting techniques of elite swimmers. Journal of Sports Sciences, 2(3), 213-223.

• Ruschel, C., Gassenferth Araujo, L., Matheus Pereira, S., & Roesler, H. (2007). Kinematical analysis of the swimming start: Block, flight and underwater phases. Xxv isbs symposium, Ouro Preto, Brazil.

• Seifert, L., Vantorre, J., Lemaitre, F., Chollet, D., Toussaint, H. M., & Vilas-Boas, J. (2010). Different profiles of the aerial start phase in front crawl. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 24(2), 507-516.

• Vantorre, J., Seifert, L., Fernandes, R. J., V. Boas, J. P., & Chollet, D. (2010). Kinematical profiling of the front crawl star. International Journal of Sports Medicine, 31, 16-21.

References• The DOLPHIN KICK• Arellano, R., Pardillo, S., & Gavilán, A. (2002). Underwater undulatory swimming: Kinematic characteristics,

vortex generation and application during the start, turn and swimming strokes. In Proceedings of the XXthInternational Symposium on Biomechanics in Sports, Universidad de Granada.

• Cohen, R. C. Z., Cleary, P. W., & Mason, B. R. (2012). Simulations of dolphin kick swimming using smoothed particle hydrodynamics. Human Movement Science, 31, 604-619.

• Hochstein, S., & Blickhan, R. (2011). Vortex re-capturing and kinematics in human underwater undulatoryswimming. Human Movement Science, 30(998-1007).

• von Loebbecke, A., Mittal, R., Fish, F., & Mark, R. (2009). A comparison of the kinematics of the dolphin kick in humans and cetaceans. Human Movement Science, 28, 99-112.

• The FLIP TURN• Bahadon, M. R., Mosavi, S. H., Hasannejad, E., & Moradlo, H. (2012). Investigating kinematics of the flip turn

technique in front crawl swimming. 30th annual conference of biomechanics in sports, Melbourne, Australia.• Puel, F., Morlier, J., Avalos, M., Mesnard, M., Cid, M., & Hellard, P. (2012). 3d kinematic and dynamic analysis

of the front crawl tumble turn in elite male swimmers. Journal of Biomechanics, 45, 510-515.• MISCELLANEOUS• Barbosa, T. M., Bragada , J. A., Reis, V. M., Marinho, D. A., Carvalho, C., & Silva , A. J. (2010). Energetics and

biomechanics as determining factors of swimming performance: Updating the state of the art. Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport, 13, 262-269.

• Hellard, P., Dekerle, J., Avalos, M., Caudal, N., Knopp, M., & Hausswirth, C. (2008). Kinematic measures and stroke rate variability in elite female 200-m swimmers in the four swimming techniques: Athens 2004 Olympic semi-finalists and French National 2004 Championship semi-finalists. Journal of sports sciences, 26(1), 35-46.

• Seifert, L., Boulesteix, L., Chollet, D., & Vilas-Boas, J. P. (2008). Differences in spatial-temporal parameters and arm-leg coordination in butterfly stroke as a function of race pace, skill and gender. Human Movement Science, 27, 96-111.