Abstract

Resistance training (RT) is widely recognized as a crucial component of preparation in swimming. Its impact on each swimming stroke remains unclear. Existing research has yielded inconsistent findings, and there is a need to synthesize the available evidence for more generalized knowledge in this area. This systematic review (SR) aimed to evaluate the effect of RT consisting of different resistance exercises (RE) in land as well as water medium on different strokes of swimming (SoS). This SR followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines with a PICOS (Population, Intervention, Comparison, Outcomes and Study) approach, for searching, reviewing, and evaluating the studies collected from six different databases (Google Scholar, PubMed, Scopus, SPORTDiscus, Web of Science, Research Gate). After inclusion and exclusion, 21 studies (conducted between 1993 and 2024) from different databases were included in the present SR for analysis and synthesis of more generalized knowledge on the impact of RT on different SoS. The study was registered in PROSPERO having no.: CRD420261301994. The methodological quality (MQ) was assessed using the Physiotherapy Evidence Database (PEDro) Scale, and the risk of bias (RoB) was calculated using the Cochrane RoB 2.0 tool. This study analyzed twenty-one randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that used stroke-specific swimming and incorporated RE, conducted on dry-land (dry-land resistance training: DLRT) & in-water (in-water resistance training: IWRT), and reported the impact of RT on different measures of swimming performance. The result revealed that both RT (DLRT & IWRT) improved swimming performance in all aspects, like starts, turns, and overall stroke mechanics. But there was no specific RE guidelines observed for performance enhancement, nor a specific RE schedule in individual swim strokes. Among the studies included in this SR, most of the studies investigated the impact of RT on freestyle, while backstroke and breaststroke, got only limited attention, however, no selected studies put attention on butterfly stroke this suggests that RT plays a crucial role in swimming strokes, particularly in freestyle, and to a lesser extent in backstroke, breaststroke. The findings put forth that future research should look at the effects of RT across all the strokes of swimming including backstroke, breaststroke, also need special attention on butterfly, which in turn will give us more clearer picture of how REs may be used to improve the performance in each SoS.

Keywords

Resistance Exercise, Strength Training, Dry-Land Training, Aquatic Training, Swimming Performance,

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