Biomechanics and Medicine in Swimming XI

BiomechanicsandmedicineinswimmingXi
According to our results, the resting interval between swims, in the
4x50m ‘’broken’’ swim, should be great enough to partly replenish energy
sources. Additionally, in ‘’broken’’ swimming the high speed maintenance
capacity is improved when the swimming speed between swims
is high and remains constant throughout sets with similar physiological
responses as those in continuous swimming. However, the resting
interval needed for improving the high speed maintenance capacity
may depend on athlete’s fitness level. In this study, the 20 s resting time
between swims was adequate while the shorter resting intervals were
not enough to maintain the intensity and the swimming speed in levels
higher than that of continuous swimming. Consequently, if the interval
time between swims is very short, the concrete training target of ‘’broken’’
swim can not be accomplished. However, shorter resting intervals
could be used to overload the swimmers with relatively higher intensity
than straight 200m.
The results verified the hypotheses while in some circumstances
were differentiated depending on the rest interval. Regardless of the rest
interval between swims in ‘’broken’’ swimming, the maximum lactate
concentration and O 2 deficit were similar at the end of each condition.
The heart rate in the condition of 20 s rest interval was higher than in
conditions of shorter rest interval due to the greater exercise intensity.
On the contrary, no differences were observed for heart rate, when the
resting interval was short (10 and 5 s.). Based on our results, performance
improvement in ‘’broken’’ swimming needed the concrete interval
time of 20 s.
The principle limitation of the present study is the sample size.
12 male, young swimmers (14-17 years) participated. The conclusions
drawn by the present study can not be generalized for elite swimmers,
women and for different swimming style and distance, given the fact
that 200m distance and free style swimming were employed.
conclusIons
The present study has investigated the physiological responses of ‘’broken’’
swimming (4x50m) with different resting interval compared with
those of continuous method (200m) during free-style swimming of
maximum intensity. Moreover, the present study examined which specific
resting interval in ‘’broken’’ swimming, contributes to the development
of higher swimming speed with similar physiological demands
compared to those of continuous swimming. Our findings suggest that
the physiological responses of the two methods are similar and ‘’broken’’
swimming with short resting interval does not give any benefit for
swimming speed improvement. Different benefits could be gained from
shorter resting intervals. However, it was found that swimmers in ‘’broken’’
swimming derived a significant benefit from swimming with 20
s resting interval between swims. Particularly, it seems that swimming
performance in ‘’broken’’ swimming needs 20 s resting interval between
swims to be developed.
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