ABSTRACT
The purpose of this investigation was to determine whether the concepts of critical swimming velocity (v cri) and critical power (w cri) could be applied in tethered swimming as critical swimming force (f cri), and whether f cri could be utilized as an effective index for assessing endurance performance in competitive swimmers. The subjects who volunteered for this study were thirteen male trained collegiate swimmers (18–21 years). The subjects were instructed to swim four times in tethered swimming.
The regression equations between impulse (i) and maximal sustained time (t) were expressed in the general form, i=a+b*t, with r value being higher than 0.996 (p<0.01). Furthermore, v cri, swimming velocity corresponding 4 mmol*1–1 of blood lactate concentration (v OBLA) and mean velocity in the 400 m free style maximal effort (v400) were measured on each subject. Significant correlations were found between f cri and v400 (r=0.703, p<0.01), f cri and v cri (r=0.691, p<0.01), and f cri and v OBLA (r=0.682, p<0.05). These data suggested that f cri could be defined as the force of tethered swimming which could be theoretically maintained without exhaustion and could be adopted as an index for assessing endurance performance.
