A COMPARISON OF LOWER EXTREMITY EXPLOSIVE POWER AMONG ELITE SWIMMERS THROUGHOUT THE YEARLY TRAINING CYCLE
Abstract
The goal of our study is to discover the change in explosive power lower extremities which is occurring during the summer phase of the annual training cycle in a group of elite swimmers. The swimmers were tested using test-retest with the Myotest accelerometric system - a repeated jump out of a crouch with a countermovement.
Results from the Levene and Kolmogorov-Smirnov tests justify the use of analysis of variance in both observed parameters. The measurements showed no statistically significant increases in performance (p=0.535).
However, they showed, at least, that the size of effect, expressed in terms of Cohen's D, reached non-trivial values in two cases. While the magnitude of effect between the first and second measurements was 0.16 (trivial), between the 2nd and 3rd measurements, there could be observed a small effect (0.42).
Overall the difference in effect between the 1st and 3rd can be considered average (0.51). Intraclass correlation was 0.853, which indicates very good measurement reliability.
The results show that during the yearly training cycle, changes occur in the level of explosive power capabilities of the lower extremities, but they are not statistically significant. The highest level was measured in the third measuring (before the peak of the season).
From the perspective of coaching practice, it can be stated that the explosive power of the lower extremities appears to be an indirect indicator of the athletic form in swimmers.