RESEARCH ARTICLE


Can 8 Weeks of Training in Female Swimmers Affect Active Drag?



Daniel A. Marinho1, 2, Nuno Garrido2, 3, Tiago M. Barbosa2, 4, Victor M. Reis2, 3, Antonio J. Silva2, 3, Aldo M. Costa1, 2, Mario C. Marques1, 2, *
1 University of Beira Interior, Sport Sciences Department (UBI, Covilhã, Portugal)
2 Research Centre in Sports, Health and Human Development (CIDESD, Vila Real, Portugal)
3 University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro. Sport, Health and Exercise Department (UTAD, Vila Real, Portugal)
4 Polytechnic Institute of Bragança. Sport Department (IPB, Bragança, Portugal)

Article Information


Identifiers and Pagination:

Year: 2010
Volume: 3
First Page: 36
Last Page: 37
Publisher ID: TOSSJ-3-36
DOI: 10.2174/1875399X010030100036

Article History:

Received Date: 05/07/2009
Revision Received Date: 10/10/2009
Acceptance Date: 01/11/2009
Electronic publication date: 20/4/2010
Collection year: 2010

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Creative Commons License
© 2010 Marinho et al.

open-access license: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0), a copy of which is available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

* Address correspondence to this author at the Department of Sport Sciences, University of Beira Interior – Portugal, Rua Marquês D´Ávila eBolama, 6200-001 Covilhã, Portugal; Tel: +(351) 275329153; Fax: +(351)275329157; E-mail: mariomarques@mariomarques.com


Abstract

Hydrodynamic drag is the force that a swimmer has to overcome in order to maintain his movement through water and is influenced by velocity, shape, size and the frontal surface area Thus, the aim of this study was to assess the effects of 8 weeks of training on active drag in young female swimmers. 8 female age group swimmers belonging to the same swimming club participated in this study. Active drag measurements were conducted in two different trials: at the beginning of the season and after 8 weeks of training. The velocity perturbation method was used to determine active drag in front crawl swimming. After 8 weeks of training, mean active drag decreased, although no significant differences were found between the two trials. No significant differences were observed in swimming velocity between the two trials. It seems that 8 weeks of swimming training were not enough to allow significant improvements on swimming technique. One can recommend that specific training sets concerning technique correction and improvement in young swimmers should be a main aim during training planning.

Keywords: Young swimmers, technique, drag, training effects.