Biomechanics and Medicine in Swimming XI

Because the visualization of a movement triggers activities in some
areas of the brain’s motor cortex, repeated imagery training (movements
or specific images closely related to the movements) could induce improvements
in the performance.
This study in young swimmers aimed to observe the effects of a specific
imagery training on the flow state and on their swimming performance.
Method
Sixteen young swimmers (7 females and 9 males) volunteered for the
study. Participants were divided into two homogeneous groups (eight
participants each) randomly assigned to the Experimental or Control
group: i. Experimental group (mean±SD, age 13.0±0.53 years, weight
52.5±6.5 kg, height 161±7 cm, BMI 20.19±1.21 kg·m -2 ); ii. Control
group (mean±SD, age 13.25±1.04 years, weight 55.38±7.95 kg, height
165±8 cm, BMI 20.21±1.66 kg·m -2 ).
Experimental participants were first introduced to the imagery training
by means of a preparatory explanation and an information leaflet.
Following the instructions in the leaflet, they self-practiced a number of
exercises at home for 10 days aimed to manage the imagery abilities and
the ability to overcome a negative situation (e.g.: to visualize a friend
sitting in front of you and practice focusing on a number of details and
emotions; to imagine a weak lamp hang in front of you, increasing and
reducing in intensity; to select an object and to focus on it through an
inner or an outer perspective; to focus on a technical swimming action,
on muscular feelings, trying to imagine the same action at the maximum
expected power during events; to visualize the same fellow of the first
exercise walking around the room and speaking to the people and to
yourself ). Subjects were also asked to watch the illustrations (Figure 1)
of three very important movements of swimming events: the start phase
(diving in the fastest and most reactive way like a dolphin), the swimming
phase (swimming to escape from a shark) and the turns (inverting
the swimming direction as fast as possible like a missile).
Figure 1. Illustrations aimed to drill the imagery associated with the
important phases of swimming contained in the leaflet for the Experimental
subjects
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After this preparatory period, the experimental subjects conducted specific
mental training on imagery to supplement the swimming training.
They were invited to continue to practice imagery at home and an additional
imagery exercise was carried out during swimming sessions: 20
to 30 minutes per session, subjects were lead by the coach in rehearsing
the illustrations. They were also asked to perform at the maximum level
the elements of the weekly swimming training that were scheduled as:
starts (on Monday), swimming speed (on Tuesday), turns (on Wednesday),
starts and swimming (on Thursday), start, swimming and turns (on
Friday).
The swimmers attended a three week training program, for two
hours per day. The control group performed the same volume and training
program as the experimental group, but no sort of mental training
was carried out.
The Flow State Scale questionnaire was filled out by subjects before
and after the three weeks of swimming training as well as the performance
on 100m front crawl stroke was surveyed.
Statistical analyses were carried out by SPSS 13.0® software, setting
p