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Download fileExternal heating garments used post warm-up improve upper-body power and elite sprint swimming performance
journal contribution
posted on 2016-05-13, 10:35 authored by Emma L. Wilkins, George HavenithGeorge HavenithThe aim of this study was to determine the effects of using an electrical heating garment during a 30-minute recovery period after a standardized swimming warm-up on subsequent swimming performance and upper-body power output. On two occasions, eight male and four female elite competitive swimmers completed a standardized swimming warm-up, followed by a 30-minute passive recovery period before completing maximal plyometric press-ups and a 50m Freestyle swim. Plyometric press-ups determined starting strength (SS), peak force (PF) and peak concentric power (PCP). During the recovery period, participants wore tracksuit bottoms and (i) a standard tracksuit top (CON) or (ii) jacket with integrated electric heating elements (HEAT). The overall results demonstrated a trend of a relevant (>0.4%) improvement in the 50m Freestyle performance of 0.83% (P = 0.06) in HEAT vs. CON. In male participants, performance in the 50m Freestyle significantly improved by 1.01% (CON 25.18 ± 0.5s vs. HEAT 24.93 ± 0.4s; P < 0.05), whereas female participants only showed a trend for an improvement of 0.38% (29.18 ± 0.5s vs. 29.03 ± 1.0s; P = 0.09), in HEAT compared with CON, though statistical power for the latter test was low. Male participants’ starting strength, peak force and peak concentric power were 16.5 ± 13%, 18.1 ± 21% and 16.2 ± 21% greater, respectively, in HEAT compared with CON (all P<0.01). In conclusion, external heating of the upper body between completion of the warm-up and performance through the utilization of an electrically heated jacket improves plyometric press-up power output and force production, as well as sprint swimming performance in males. This provides justification for future enhancement opportunities in sporting performance through the utilization of external heating systems. Optimization of the heating system for specific sports is required.
History
School
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Published in
Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers Part P: Journal of Sports Engineering and TechnologyCitation
WILKINS, E.L. and HAVENITH, G., 2017. External heating garments used post warm-up improve upper-body power and elite sprint swimming performance. Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers Part P: Journal of Sports Engineering and Technology, 231(2), pp.91-101.Publisher
SAGE Publications / © IMechEVersion
- AM (Accepted Manuscript)
Publisher statement
This work is made available according to the conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) licence. Full details of this licence are available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/Acceptance date
2016-04-22Publication date
2017Notes
This paper was accepted for publication in Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part P: Journal of Sports Engineering and Technology. The definitive version is available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1754337116650322ISSN
1754-338XPublisher version
Language
- en