Energetic and Biomechanical Contributions for Longitudinal Performance in Master Swimmers.

BACKGROUND

The current study aimed to verify the changes in performance, physiological and biomechanical variables throughout a season in master swimmers.

METHODS

Twenty-three master swimmers (34.9 ± 7.4 years) were assessed three times during a season (December: M, March: M, June: M), in indoor 25 m swimming pools. An incremental 5 × 200 m test was used to evaluate the speed at 4 mmol·L of blood lactate concentration (sLT), maximal oxygen uptake (), peak blood lactate ([La-]peak) after the test, stroke frequency (), stroke length (), stroke index () and propelling efficiency (). The performance was assessed in the 200 m front crawl during competition.

RESULTS

Swimming performance improved between M, M (2%, = 0.03), and M (4%, < 0.001). Both sLT and increased throughout the season (4% and 18%, < 0.001, respectively) but not [La-]peak. While decreased 5%, , and increased 5%, 7%, and 6% ( < 0.001) from M to M.

CONCLUSIONS

Master swimmers improved significantly in their 200 m front crawl performance over a season, with decreased and increased and Despite the improvement in energetic variables, the change in performance seemed to be more dependent on technical than energetic factors.