THE EFFECTS OF ADDITIONAL STRENGTH TRAINING ON SPECIFIC MOTOR ABILITIES IN YOUNG SWIMMERS

The objective of this study was to determine the effects of dry-land strength training on swimming specific motor abilities for young swimmers aged 10-14 years. The participant sample comprised 60 swimmers, aged 10-12 and 13-14, divided into two experimental and two control groups. Measures included 16 variables for assessing specific motor abilities in disciplines 100m crawl and breaststroke. The experimental exercise program lasted 12 weeks. Compared to the control groups, the experimental groups had additional dry-land strength training targeting large muscle groups of the entire body. After the applied experimental program statistically significant effects were identified in the form of improvement of the following variables: start time 10m breaststroke, stroke length in breaststroke and turn length in breaststroke for swimmers aged 10-12, whereas for swimmers aged 13-14 there was improvement in the variable stroke efficiency in crawl. Based on the total analysis, we conclude that the applied experimental program would require modification in the further training process with a view to achieving more considerable training effects which would in turn effect a more significant transformation of swimming results in the categories of swimmers aged 10-12 and 13-14.