Changes in critical velocity and critical stroke rate during a 12 week swimming training period: a case study

Abstract

The aim of this study was to analyse the evolution of critical velocity and critical stroke rate during 12 weeks of training in age group swimmers. Fourteen age group male swimmers took part in this investigation. The evaluation took place in two different trials. The first one was conducted at the beginning of the season and the second one after 12 weeks of training. For each subject the critical velocity and the critical stroke rate were determined in both trials. The main result was that critical velocity increased, whereas critical stroke rate decreased between the first and second trials. It seems that technical ability was improved during the 12 weeks of training. The swimmers were able to perform at the same physiological intensity at higher velocities and with less stroke rate. This information could help swimming coaches monitoring their training without expensive instruments.Key words: Training, Age group swimmers, aerobic capacity, Technique.Reference Data: Marinho DA, Silva AJ, Reis VM, Costa AM, Brito JP, Ferraz R, Marques MC. Changes in critical velocity and critical stroke rate during a 12 week swimming training period: a case study.

The Influence of Anthropometric, Kinematic and Energetic Variables and Gender on Swimming Performance in Youth Athletes

“…Technical training ( Barbosa et al, 2010a ) and endurance training ( Marinho et al, 2009 ) are two major determinants of young swimmers’ performance. Young swimmers’ training and competition should be monitored on a regular basis in order to design appropriate training sets and enhance performance ( Marinho et al, 2011 ) as currently occurs in adult/elite counterparts ( Komar et al, 2012 ).…”

The effect of training on aerobic and anaerobic critical velocities in young swimmers

“…Considering the evaluation of aerobic critical velocity carried over different weeks of training, a study by Neto et al 16 which aimed to investigate the differences of critical speed over 23 weeks of training, only found significant differences after 20 weeks of training. In similar studies, Marinho et al 5 and Machado et al 17 found significant differences in the values of the critical velocity at 12 weeks of training. In a study by Reis and Alves, 3 aiming to determine the relationship between different methods of assessment aerobic capacity and the changes caused by aerobic workout, there were found improvements in the critical velocity of the swimmers at the end of nine weeks of aerobic training.…”

“…2 Reis and Alves 3 and Leite et al 4 emphasized that the structure of the training plan needs to be continuously followed up and adjustments should be made according to the improvement or not of performance and according to the swimmers' responses to training loads. For example, according to Marinho et al 5 the training process efficiency appears deeply determined by the possibility of collecting data about the evolution and needs of each swimmer.…”

Is Speed Reserve Related to Critical Speed and Anaerobic Distance Capacity in Swimming?

“…Critical swimming speed has been suggested to strongly correlate with some well-known aerobic performance indexes, such as the averaged 400-m speed (32), the speed at 4 mmol$L 21 blood lactate concentration (7,8,32), the speed of the 30-minute test (6,8) and the maximal lactate steady-state speed (12). Complementary, increased CSS values after an aerobic training program have been previously reported for national level (12), well-trained (13) and age group swimmers (15,21,29).…”