Lower trunk muscle activity in butterfly swimming

Biography

Jonas Martens’ interest in swimming science originates from his history as a swimmer, achieving finals at both Paralympics in Sydney and Athens, and multiple European and World championship successes. After completing master studies in Physical Education and Engineering techniques, he started a PhD in 2012 on the subject of electromyography in swimming.

Synopsis

The activation patterns of propulsive swimming muscles such as latissimus dorsi or triceps are well documented, especially in the crawl and breaststroke1, but the number of studies on the activity of lower trunk muscles in butterfly is limited. A clear rise in activity of the rectus abdominis ‘in the early stage of the stroke’ was described2. A reciprocal activity in the rectus abdominis and erector spinae was noted and the cocontractions of these antagonistic muscles demonstrated their roles in trunk flexion and extension as well as in its stabilisation3. The purpose of this study was to analyse lower trunk muscle activation in butterfly swimming and examine how this muscle activity is related to arm and leg synchronisation.