While the relation between dryland strength and in-water force has already been documented, the relationship between induced fatigue by dryland and in-water tests remains poorly understood, particularly regarding sex differences. This study investigated the relationship between acute fatigue induced by dryland and in-water testing among young competitive swimmers of both sexes. Thirteen boys (12.8 ± 0.6 years) and 14 girls (13.3 ± 0.5 years) volunteered to participate. Work fatigue (%) for dominant and non-dominant upper limbs was retrieved from a dryland isokinetic shoulder external and internal rotation test. Force decay (Fdecay), force coefficient of variation (FCv, %) and fatigue index (FI, %) were obtained by 30s tethered swimming test. No differences were observed between sexes for any fatigue-related variable in either environment (p>0.05). While no relations between conditions were found for girls, boys demonstrated relationship between FCv-dominant external rotation (r = 0.59, p <0.05) and Fdecay-dominant internal rotation (r = 0.57, p <0.05). These findings suggest that fatigue responses are environment-specific, particularly in girls. For comprehensive swimmers monitoring, practitioners should prioritize in-water testing for ecological fatigue profiling, while utilizing dryland isokinetic assessments as a controlled method for identifying muscular imbalances and informing injury prevention strategies.
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