CAN INTRA-CYCLIC FORCE VARIATION BE A VALUABLE PARAMETER TO EVALUATE THE FORCES EXERTED BY SWIMMERS?

The purpose of this study was to examine the force pattern produced during the front crawl swimming cycle, plus to analyze possible relationships of intra-cyclic force variation (dF) with swimming performance. Thirty four competitive swimmers, representing various levels of competitive performance (17.2 ± 2.72 yrs; 1.76 ± 0.09 m; 67.4 ± 9.94 kg; personal best 100 m long course freestyle swimming: 58.39 ± 2.19 s), randomly performed the tethered and free swimming tests. The free swimming velocity was found to be negatively correlated with dF (r = -0.85; p < 0.001). Adding dF with maximum impulse per cycle into a multiple regression model, it was possible to explain 87.6% of the 50 m performance variation. This novel parameter (dF) showed to be a valuable variable to evaluate the swimmers ability to effectively apply force in the water