Changes in Upper-Body Muscular Strength and Power in Paralympic Swimmers: Effects of Training Confinement during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Luca Cavaggioni, Alessio Rossi, Massimiliano Tosin, Raffaele Scurati, Giovanni Michielon, Giampietro Alberti, Giampiero Merati, Damiano Formenti and Athos Trecroci
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Luca Cavaggioni: Obesity Unit—Laboratory of Nutrition and Obesity Research, Department of Endocrine and Metabolic Diseases, IRCCS Istituto Auxologico Italiano, 20145 Milan, Italy
Alessio Rossi: Department of Computer Science, University of Pisa, 56127 Pisa, Italy
Massimiliano Tosin: Italian Paralympic Swimming Federation, 00144 Rome, Italy
Raffaele Scurati: Department of Biomedical Sciences for Health, Università degli Studi di Milano, 20133 Milan, Italy
Giovanni Michielon: Department of Biomedical Sciences for Health, Università degli Studi di Milano, 20133 Milan, Italy
Giampietro Alberti: Department of Biomedical Sciences for Health, Università degli Studi di Milano, 20133 Milan, Italy
Giampiero Merati: Department of Biotechnology and Life Sciences, University of Insubria, 21100 Varese, Italy
Damiano Formenti: Department of Biotechnology and Life Sciences, University of Insubria, 21100 Varese, Italy
Athos Trecroci: Department of Biomedical Sciences for Health, Università degli Studi di Milano, 20133 Milan, Italy

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 9, 1-10

Abstract: The aim of this case series was to evaluate the effectiveness of a dry-land home-training program conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic period in Paralympic swimmers. Previous evidence showed the importance of muscular strength and power training for Paralympic swimmers due to the positive relationship between severity of impairment, swimming technique and biomechanics parameters. Specifically, we aimed to analyze: (i) the effects of a customized training regime conducted pre, during and post restrictions on upper-body muscular strength and power (one repetition maximum, mean propulsive velocity, and mean relative propulsive power) compared to a regular gym-based program; (ii) the associations between mean propulsive velocity and load during two upper body exercises in order to estimate the one repetition maximum. Four elite Paralympic swimmers were retrospectively analyzed in upper-body muscular strength, mean propulsive velocity and mean relative propulsive power in bench press and lat pull-down exercises at three time points: T0 (prior the Lockdown period), T1 (immediately after the Lockdown confinement), T2 (sixteen weeks after returning to gym training). Our findings suggest a very likely decrement in one repetition maximum, mean propulsive velocity, and mean relative propulsive power during the Lockdown period compared with the T0 period with a subsequent very likely increment in one repetition maximum after returning to gym training (T2) compared with the lockdown period (T0). Conversely, mean relative propulsive power showed an unclear improvement in all athletes in T2 compared with T1. These results were also corroborated by the Friedman’s test followed by the Dunn’s pairwise comparison that mainly showed a decrement from T0 to T1 ( p < 0.05). At the same time, it appears that muscle strength and power could be rapidly restored close to the pre-lockdown levels following an adequate training program in the gym, albeit without significance ( p > 0.05). Finally, the close relationship between mean propulsive velocity and load in bench press and lat pull-down exercises was also confirmed in para swimming, making a possible estimation of one repetition maximum.

Keywords: Paralympic swimming; dry-land training; load-velocity profile; power; strength; disability; exercise (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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