Estimating the energy contribution during single and repeated sprint swimming

Abstract

The extent to which aerobic processes contribute to energy supply during short duration sprint swimming is not known. Therefore, the energy contribution to a maximal 30 s fully tethered swim (FTS), and repeated 4 × 30 s high intensity semi-tethered swimming bouts (STS) with 30 s of passive rest at 95% of the 30 s FTS intensity was estimated in eight elite male swimmers. Blood lactate concentration and pH after the 4 × 30 s test were 12.1 ± 3.6 mmol/L and 7.2 ± 0.1, respectively. Accumulated oxygen demand was estimated to be 50.9 ± 9.6 mL/kg and 48.3 ± 8.4, 47.2 ± 8.5, 47.4 ± 8.3, and 45.6 ± 6.8 mL/kg for the 30 s FTS and 4 × 30 s bouts, respectively. Accumulated oxygen uptake was 16.6 ± 3.6 for the 30 s FTS and progressively increased during the 4 × 30 s bouts 12.2 ± 2.1, 21.6 ± 2.5, 22.8 ± 1.8, and 23.5 ± 2.0 mL/kg (P < 0.01). The estimated aerobic contribution therefore was 33 ± 8% for the 30 s FTS and 25 ± 4, 47 ± 9, 49 ± 8, 52 ± 9% for bouts 1-4 during the 4 × 30 s STS test (P < 0.01). The results underline the importance of aerobic energy contribution during single and repeated high intensity swimming, which should be considered when prescribing swimming training sets of this nature.

Ischemic Preconditioning and Repeated Sprint Swimming

“…This question was used to determine the "improvement expectation" of the subjects in each condition. The repeated sprint swimming task consisted of 6 x 50-m sprints at maximal effort repeated every 3 min, which is comparable to the protocol from previous studies (31,39). The task was always conducted in the first lane of the pool.…”

“…Best time (s) 31 .86 000000 ± 000000 000000 ± 000000 0000 0 000000 ± 000000 000000 ± 000000 0000 A C…”

“…Repeated sprint exercise is characterized by short-duration, maximal muscular work, repeated after short recovery period (14,30,31,39). This type of exercise requires various integrated physiological adjustments, including great level of neural activation and muscle recruitment (30), as well as relevant contribution of both anaerobic and aerobic metabolic pathways to energy production (31).…”

“…This type of exercise requires various integrated physiological adjustments, including great level of neural activation and muscle recruitment (30), as well as relevant contribution of both anaerobic and aerobic metabolic pathways to energy production (31). Noteworthy, physiological demands vary according with exercise mode and repeated sprint swimming may be more complex than repeated sprint cycling or running (12).…”

$$\dot{V}{\text{O}}_{ 2}$$ V ˙ O 2 kinetics and metabolic contributions during full and upper body extreme swimming intensity

“…Moreover, recently it has been suggested that, even for short duration swimming events, there is a relevant aerobic energy contribution that should be taken into consideration in the training process Peyrebrune et al 2014). However, the available information regarding the relative contribution of each energy system to the overall energy supply of short duration but very intense swimming events is scarce.…”