Physiological Responses in Relation to Performance during Competition in Elite Synchronized Swimmers

Abstract

PurposeWe aimed to characterize the cardiovascular, lactate and perceived exertion responses in relation to performance during competition in junior and senior elite synchronized swimmers.Methods34 high level senior (21.4±3.6 years) and junior (15.9±1.0) synchronized swimmers were monitored while performing a total of 96 routines during an official national championship in the technical and free solo, duet and team competitive programs. Heart rate was continuously monitored. Peak blood lactate was obtained from serial capillary samples during recovery. Post-exercise rate of perceived exertion was assessed using the Borg CR-10 scale. Total competition scores were obtained from official records.ResultsData collection was complete in 54 cases. Pre-exercise mean heart rate (beats·min−1) was 129.1±13.1, and quickly increased during the exercise to attain mean peak values of 191.7±8.7, with interspersed bradycardic events down to 88.8±28.5. Mean peak blood lactate (mmol·L−1) was highest in the free solo (8.5±1.8) and free duet (7.6±1.8) and lowest at the free team (6.2±1.9). Mean RPE (0–10+) was higher in juniors (7.8±0.9) than in seniors (7.1±1.4). Multivariate analysis revealed that heart rate before and minimum heart rate during the routine predicted 26% of variability in final total score.ConclusionsCardiovascular responses during competition are characterized by intense anticipatory pre-activation and rapidly developing tachycardia up to maximal levels with interspersed periods of marked bradycardia during the exercise bouts performed in apnea. Moderate blood lactate accumulation suggests an adaptive metabolic response as a result of the specific training adaptations attributed to influence of the diving response in synchronized swimmers. Competitive routines are perceived as very to extremely intense, particularly in the free solo and duets. The magnitude of anticipatory heart rate activation and bradycardic response appear to be related to performance variability.

Acute Apnea Swimming

“…Arterial oxygen desaturation occurred more quickly in trained divers during maximal dynamic breath-hold dives compared with static dives and, as expected, the postdive lactate increase was greater for the combination of apnea and dynamic exercise (7). Other studies have shown a relationship between the bradycardic response or arterial oxygen desaturation and performance in elite synchronized swimmers, divers, and underwater hockey players (7,14,18,22).…”

“…It was found that the divinginduced bradycardia during moderate dynamic cycle exercise was powerful (7) enough to override the exercise tachycardia for the period of apnea (1)(2)(3)(4)24). However, more recent studies in elite synchronized swimmers (22) and trained breath-hold divers (17) showed that with higher exercise intensity, HR was increased during dynamic apnea compared with dry static apnea, but a relative bradycardic response was still observed during the dynamic apnea. Arterial oxygen desaturation occurred more quickly in trained divers during maximal dynamic breath-hold dives compared with static dives and, as expected, the postdive lactate increase was greater for the combination of apnea and dynamic exercise (7).…”

Bioelectrical impedance vector analysis (BIVA) for measuring the hydration status in young elite synchronized swimmers

“…Although bioelectrical variables are normalized for height, BMI calculation enables better contextualization of the sample. The results of the BMI in both groups (Table 1)—underweight and normal weight in C o and J r swimmers, respectively—seem to be coherent with the great physiological demands of this sport [4]. These anthropometric characteristics are necessary to understand that the bioelectrical signal will also be specifically related to each sport, sex and age [15].…”

Effects of hypercapnic-hypoxic training on respiratory muscle strength and front crawl stroke performance among elite swimmers

“…Some previous studies have discovered presence of a weakened ventilation response in breath-hold divers and synchronized swimmers (2,4,10,33). However, the hypothesis that exposure to hypercapnic condition reduces the ventilation response to increased CO2 concentrations was rejected.…”