Reliability of Tethered Swimming Evaluation in Age Group Swimmers

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to examine the reliability of tethered swimming in the evaluation of age group swimmers. The sample was composed of 8 male national level swimmers with at least 4 years of experience in competitive swimming. Each swimmer performed two 30 second maximal intensity tethered swimming tests, on separate days. Individual force-time curves were registered to assess maximum force, mean force and the mean impulse of force. Both consistency and reliability were very strong, with Cronbach’s Alpha values ranging from 0.970 to 0.995. All the applied metrics presented a very high agreement between tests, with the mean impulse of force presenting the highest. These results indicate that tethered swimming can be used to evaluate age group swimmers. Furthermore, better comprehension of the swimmers ability to effectively exert force in the water can be obtained using the impulse of force.

Aerobic and Anaerobic Swimming Force Evaluation in One Single Test Session for Young Swimmers

“…Using an elastic tether, Raglin, Koceja, Stager, et al [30] presented Fmax similar (92.7 to 107.7 N, female, 19.3 years old) to the ones presented here. Using either tether characteristic, Fmean seems to be very close among studies, being between 86.9 and 103.97 N [1,25] for male swimmers within a similar age group (15.3 years), and between 112.7 and 116.1 N for older (16-17 years old) athletes [1,26]. These results suggest AO30s sensitivity to the inherent gender and age differences in anaerobic force, reinforcing the urge to study such procedure for different age profiles.…”

“…Higher Fmax (between 207.1 N and 351.3 N) in other studies presenting tethered AO30s [1,18,25] may be explained by the use of an inextensible cable. Using an inextensible cable demands first strokes' elimination to avoid bumps not related to swimming performance, which is smoothed by an extensive cord.…”

“…Hyperlactatemia level, stage length, constancy level of intensity for the incremental phase, gender differences, and goodness of polynomial fit are all examples of aspects previously reported to exert possible consequences in lactate minimum intensity [7,8,14,31,32]. Considering that [lac] levels after a tethered-swimming AO30s are between 6.27 and 8.09 mmol • l − 1 [1,24,25], such effort should be considered as a good alternative to impose hyperlactatemia in the TSLacmin. Regarding the incremental phase, previous studies showing success in responses for an incremental tethered swimming test should be taken into consideration.…”

“…Anaerobic force measured by tethered swimming is frequently well related to performance [18,23,26]. Force measurements in all-out tests lasting 10-30 s are well related to free swimming performance in 50 m, 100 m and 200 m [1,22,27]. In addition, parameters of a tethered 30 s all-out (AO30s) swim respond well to different training interventions such as tapering, dry land strength training, resisted and assisted swimming, and cross training [2,9,12,27], and are even sensitive to warm-up [25].…”

“…In addition, parameters of a tethered 30 s all-out (AO30s) swim respond well to different training interventions such as tapering, dry land strength training, resisted and assisted swimming, and cross training [2,9,12,27], and are even sensitive to warm-up [25]. Tethered AO30s is a common procedure to evaluate specific anaerobic force in swimmers [1,18,23,26].…”