Based on the linked source; automatically prepared and checked against the original report.
Study design
Ten national and professional wheelchair curling athletes completed a six-week, matched-group, nonrandomized pre-post study. Five participants undertook resistance training and five functional training, with both groups completing four weekly sessions at standardized volume and intensity. Researchers assessed grip strength, inverted-row endurance, upper-body power, flexibility, dynamic sitting balance, and standardized draw and takeout shots.
Fitness outcomes
Resistance training significantly improved grip strength, inverted-row performance, and right-shoulder flexibility. Functional training significantly improved dynamic sitting balance in forward and rightward directions. The study found no significant between-group differences in overall fitness change scores, indicating that neither modality clearly outperformed the other across the measured physical outcomes.
Shot performance
Draw-shot performance did not significantly change in either group. Resistance training was associated with a significant decline in hit-and-roll out-turn takeout performance, while functional training maintained performance on that task, producing a significant between-group difference in change scores. The researchers concluded that conditioning produced modality-specific adaptations, but transfer to on-ice performance was limited. They described functional training’s maintenance finding as preliminary, emphasizing the sample’s small size and limited statistical power.
