Effect of Six-Week Hang Clean Training on Underwater Push-off Velocity

Abstract

Strength and conditioning training is seen to have a direct correlation in improving power, strength and speed in sports. This study investigates the effects of the Olympic weightlift, hang cleans (HC), on the velocity of an underwater (UW) push off in the sport of swimming. Twenty-five college students enrolled in a beginner swimming class were randomly assigned to a weight training (WT) (n=15) or control (CON) (n=10) group. Each group practiced twice a week for six weeks during their regularly scheduled swimming class. Subjects who were part of the WT group followed a HC regime at the beginning of each swim class and afterwards joined the swim class. The CON group continued their normally scheduled swim class. Each subject’s UW push off velocity was recorded and analyzed at the beginning and end of the study. Neither groups UW push off velocity improve significantly enough to say that the hang clean training benefited their velocity. This could be due to multiple factors such as sample size, speculating practicing technique over cross training to be more beneficial and hang cleans not being the best exercise to improve a beginner level swimmer’s swimming ability. More research is needed to confirm the effects of hang cleans on UW push off velocity and other aspects of swimming but future research should take into consideration the different swimming levels of the participants.