Search

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of rest periods on energy system contribution during interval swimming and whether the energy system contribution varied depending on the swimmer's specialty, such as swimmers who specialize in the 100 m or 200 m. Seven highly-trained male varsity swimmers performed three different tests: a 10-min continuous test (CON), 10 × 1-min interval test with rest periods of 20 s (INT20) and 10 × 1-min interval test with rest periods of 30 s (INT30). Swimming velocity during all tests was set to maintain a blood lactate of 4 mM determined by progressive swimming. The relative aerobic and anaerobic energy system contribution was evaluated from accumulated oxygen uptake and oxygen deficit. Aerobic energy system contribution in CON, INT20, and INT30 was 93.3 ±1.1, 81.0 ±10.4, and 67.4 ±8.5%, and anaerobic contribution was 6.7 ±1.1, 19.0 ±10.4, and 32.6 ±8.5%, respectively. There were significant differences (p

Summary This study was intended to investigate the effect of wearing a wetsuit (WS) on physical performance capacity, which are maximal oxygen uptake ( V ˙ O 2 max) and maximal mechanical power output (POmax), and to demonstrate whether wearing a WS affected the relationship between maximal 400 m swim performance (V400) and V ˙ O 2 max, and between sprint swim performance (Vsprint) and V ˙ O 2 max. Twelve triathletes participated in this study. V ˙ O 2 max was determined during the continuous progressive swimming test. The mean velocity over maximal 400 m swim was defined as V400. Active drag (AD), Vsprint and POmax were measured by a specific method called “perturbation method”. Compared with wearing a swimsuit (SS), V400 was improved without enhancing V ˙ O 2 max and Vsprint was also improved without enhancing POmax and AD by wearing a WS. Significant correlations were found between V400 and V ˙ O 2 max and between Vsprint and POmax in the both suit conditions, but a higher correlation was found in the WS condition than in the SS condition. These results suggested that improved swim performance from wearing a WS was attributable only to improvement in technical factors, such as propulsion efficiency. In conclusion, during swimming with a WS, performance gain was not associated with physiological factors but with propulsion efficiency related to a gain in buoyancy and to drag reduction. However, when wearing a WS, V400 and Vsprint more reflected the values of V ˙ O 2 max and POmax, respectively.