Acute Effect of Resisted Swimming in the Kinematic Characteristics of the Stroke during Front Crawl Swimming

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to investigate the acute effect of resisted swimming with different
sized added resistances in the kinematic characteristics of the stroke during front crawl swimming. Ten female swimmers participated in the study. They swam 4 trials (25 m) with maximal intensity, without and with small, moderate and large added resistance. Four analog cameras (60 Hz) were used for the recording of the underwater motion of the right hand. The digitization was undertaken using the Ariel Performance Analysis System. For the detailed analysis of the stroke the motion of the hand was divided into four distinct phases: a) glide, b) pull, c) push and, d) recovery. Analysis of variance for repeated measures showed that during resisted swimming the stroke rate, the stroke length and the mean swimming velocity were decreased significantly, while the total duration of the stroke and the relative duration of the pull and push phases were significantly increased. This increase is attributed to the increase of the absolute pull length. On the contrary, no modification was observed in the magnitude of the medial – lateral displacement of the hand. Moreover, no alterations were found in the mean resultant velocity of the hand during the propulsive pull and push phases. Consequently, these findings suggest that resisted swimming appears to be a specific form of training.