Impact of dynamic stretching warm-up on 100-meter front crawl performance: A comparative study

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of dynamic stretching warm-up techniques on swimming performance, focusing on the 100-meter front crawl. We enrolled 15 male swimmers aged 18 to 23 with a background in national-level competitions and a minimum of five years of training experience. The study employed a counterbalanced design, where subjects underwent two trials involving dynamic stretching and traditional water warm-ups, separated by a 48-hour rest period. Performance in the 100-meter front crawl was measured under these varied conditions. Using descriptive statistics and one-way repeated measures ANOVA, our results showed no significant differences in swim performance between the two warm-up methods. The mean times for the dynamic stretching and water warm-up conditions were 66.0853 seconds (SD = 1.64191) and 65.4347 seconds (SD = 1.77521), respectively. These findings suggest that dynamic stretching, as part of a warm-up, does not significantly impact performance in highly trained swimmers performing the 100-meter front crawl. Limitations include the small sample size and the use of a 25-meter pool, which may affect the generalizability of the results. Future studies may benefit from larger sample sizes and varied pool settings to provide more definitive conclusions.