The Body Angle of Attack in Front Crawl Performance in Young Swimmers

• Authors: Marek Strzała , Piotr Krężałek
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

Among factors influencing frontal (form) resistance in swimming the angle between the swimmer's body and the line of his/her horizontal movement is particularly important. The measurement of this angle called the angle of attack (α) represents indirectly active torque (τa) during swimmer's body movement. Purpose. The aim of the study was to measure the angle of attack in front crawl swimming in young swimmers at long (2000 m), medium (400 m) and short (25 m) distances and to examine the correlation between the angle and swimming speed at those distances. Basic procedures. Swimmers' angles of attack formed between the line of swimmer's movement direction (horizontal direction) and (a) the line connecting the swimmer's hips and goggles (αH-G), and (b) the line connecting the swimmer's hips and shoulders (αH-S) were measured. Main findings. The body angle of attack in front crawl swimming was negatively correlated with swimming speed. In the analysis of αH-G (7.3 ± 2.74°) with swimming velocity at 2000 m the correlation was on the verge of statistical significance (-0.38, p<0.06). Conclusions. The angle of attack index in controlled front crawl swimming races at the distances of 2000, 400 and 25 m was negatively correlated with swimming speed only at 2000 m, and it was smaller in older, more experienced swimmers.

Keywords

EN

swimming; body angle; stroke parameters

• Publisher: De Gruyter Open
• Journal: Human Movement
• Year: 2010
• Volume: 11
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 23-28

Dates

published

1 - 6 - 2010

online

30 - 7 - 2010

Contributors

author

Marek Strzała

• Department of Theory and Methodology of Water Sports, University School of Physical Education, Cracow, Poland

author

Piotr Krężałek

• Department of Biomechanics, University School of Physical Education, Cracow, Poland

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Identifiers

DOI

10.2478/v10038-010-0003-5