The Effect of Swimming Skill Level on Selected Muscle Synergy During Swimming Simulator Activity

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Department of Exercise Physiology, Faculty of Sports Sciences, University of Mazandaran, Mazandaran, Iran.

2 Department of Motor Behavior and Sports Biomechanics, Faculty of Sports Sciences, University of Mazandaran, Mazandaran, Iran.

10.22080/jaep.2025.28354.2216

Abstract

Objectives: Improving performance during crawl swimming leads to improving swimming time. Therefore, determining the pattern of muscle coordination during crawl is very important. Muscle synergy is one of the methods to determine the relationship between the central nervous system and the muscles that is formed during different movements. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of skill level on the pattern of muscle synergy in simulated crawl swimming activity.
Methods: 10 skilled and 10 beginner swimmers participated in the present study. The electromyographic activity of the biceps brachii, lateral head of the triceps brachii, and long head of the triceps brachii, flexor digitorum, and latissimus dorsi muscles were examined. The synergy pattern was extracted based on the non-negative factorization matrix (NNMF).
Results: The results showed that in both groups, 3 synergies could reproduce the activity of the muscles during crawl swimming. Regarding the relative muscles weight, in the first synergy, the lateral head of the triceps brachii muscle in the novice swimmers had a greater weight than in the skilled group (p = 0.001). In the second synergy, the latissimus dorsi muscle in the novice group had a greater relative weight than in the elite athletes (p = 0.033). In the third synergy, no difference was observed between groups.
Conclusion: These findings suggest that these observed changes are a strategy of the central nervous system to preserve the overall structure of synergies in order to maintain optimal swimmer performance.

Keywords

Journal of Applied Exercise Physiology
Volume 20, Issue 40
October 2025
Pages 27-38

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History

  • Receive Date: 05 January 2025
  • Revise Date: 22 January 2025
  • Accept Date: 29 January 2025

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