The relationship between arm-leg volume and stroke length and swimming performance of young male swimmers

The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between arm and leg volume and stroke length and swimming performance in young male swimmers. A minimum of 15 young male swimmers who were licensed swimmers participated voluntarily in this study. The swimmers were measured for height (cm.), weight (kg.), BMI (kg/height m2), arm volume, leg volume and stroke length (cm.) and swimming performance measurements for 50 m (sec.), 100 m (sec.) and 200 m (sec.) in all styles (freestyle swimming, backstroke style swimming, breaststroke style swimming, butterfly style swimming). All swimmers were informed about the tests before the measurements. All tests were performed at the same time of the day with the routine training hours of the athletes. The data obtained were analysed with the help of SPSS software. In the normal distribution assumptions of all values, the Shapiro Wilk test, which is more preferred in small data sets, was used. It was determined that all values showed normal distribution in the test results. Descriptive statistics were used for demographic information of the swimmers; Pearson correlation analysis was used for the relationship between leg-arm total volumes and stroke lengths and 50m, 100m, and 200m swimming performances in all styles. The significance level was accepted as "p<0.05". As a result, it was found that there was a significant relationship between arm volume and 50 m and 100 m performances in backstroke style of young male swimmers. While there was no significant relationship between leg volume and 50 m and 200 m performances of freestyle, significant relationships were found with the performances in all other styles. In addition, while there was no significant relationship between stroke lengths and 200 m performances in freestyle and breaststroke styles, they had significant effects on performances in other styles and affected overall swimming performances.