The Effectiveness of Maximum Speed Training on Brain Electrical Activity Waves and 50-Meter Freestyle Swimming Performance in Juniors

Abstract

The significance of this research lies in the effectiveness of maximum speed training on brain electrical activity waves and the performance in the 50-meter freestyle swimming event for juniors. In the field of sports, maximum speed is considered one of the fundamental and essential physical abilities that plays a crucial role in improving and advancing the performance level in many sports, such as swimming, boxing, and combat sports, among others that rely on various forms of speed during the execution of their specific skills. Muscle work dynamics are primarily a neurological function, as they originate in the brain's neural centers rather than the muscles themselves. The qualitative characteristics of the functional traits of body organs are closely linked to the muscular structure, which is fundamentally based on motor contractions that occur within the brain. The junior swimmers involved in the study were aged between 15 and 17 years. The researcher used the experimental method with one of its designs—pre- and post-testing of a single group. The research sample consisted of swimmers from Al-Samawa Club for the 2022–2023 season. The researcher used the following statistical methods: arithmetic mean, median, standard deviation, kurtosis coefficient, and skewness coefficient. There were differences between the pre- and post-tests in the physical and skill-related tests under study, with statistically significant differences at the 0.05 level in favor of the post-test results across all the specific physical measurements. Based on these findings, the researcher reached the following key conclusions: Statistically significant differences were found between the pre- and post-tests in the specific physical abilities, in favor of the post-test. The improvement rates ranged from 6.42% to 18.64%, with the greatest improvement observed in the 30-meter sprint (seconds) and the least improvement in the 4 × 25-meter freestyle swim time (seconds). A high effect size was recorded for the speed training program on the muscle electrical activity wave frequency, ranging from 1.03 to 1.36. The highest effectiveness of the program was observed during the performance of the mental relaxation skill, while the lowest effectiveness was seen during the performance of the thinking skill.