Developing a Specific Training Program to Improve Butterfly Swimming Performance of Athletes in the Swimming Club

บทคัดย่อ

Background and Aims: Current butterfly stroke training in swimming clubs demonstrates notable structural imbalances. Traditional methods place excessive emphasis on static stability exercises, such as planks and Swiss ball routines, which often lead to compensatory activation of superficial abdominal muscles. Insufficient core strength in adolescent athletes directly affects their butterfly speed. Poor core stability leads to reduced movement coordination and low energy transmission efficiency, making it difficult to maintain stable propulsion output during the high-intensity periodic motion of the butterfly. Therefore, this research was to develop a specific training program to improve the butterfly swimming performance of athletes in the swimming club. In the future, this program could be adapted for university-level teaching or integrated into sports training for university athletes.

Methodology: This research was a mixed-method research. The population of this research includes 120 male butterfly swimming athletes aged between 15–18 years, from the Luzhou Ecological Swimming Club, Luzhou Huoshuge Club, and Longma High School Swimming Club, Sichuan Province, People's Republic of China. Through the purposive sampling method, butterfly swimming athletes from the Luzhou Ecological Swimming Club were selected as a sample group. 40 butterfly swimming athletes who voluntarily participated in this experiment will participate in a 100-meter butterfly test. Through a systematic sampling method, the sample group will be divided into two groups. This research was conducted on an 8-week training. The experimental group participated in a specific training program designed to improve butterfly swimming performance, with six sessions per week, each lasting 120 minutes. The control group followed a traditional training program. Performance assessments included the 100-meter butterfly test, a modified plank test, and 30 30-meter sprint test. Data collected from both groups before and after the intervention were analyzed to evaluate the effectiveness of the specific training program. Mean, standard deviation, and independent t-tests were used to analyze the data.

Results: The results showed that using independent t-tests to analyze the data, the post-test results of the experimental group have better performance than the control group in all indicators, with a significant difference at the 0.05 level. The experimental group had a shorter 100-meter butterfly time (3.47 seconds), longer modified plank duration (13.27 seconds), and faster 30-meter sprint speed (0.23 m/s). This indicates the specific training program was more effective in improving the butterfly swimming performance of athletes in the swimming club.

Conclusion: The developed specific training program was more effective in improving the butterfly swimming performance of athletes in the swimming club, better than the traditional training program.