Efeito de diferentes estratégias de recuperação em meio aquático entre repetições máximas de 50m no desempenho de atletas de natação

Abstract

Different types of recovery have been used by athletes and coaches to improve performance during repetition training, but most studies have been conducted with cycling or running. Those that evaluate this variable in swimming training focus on active and passive recovery. Furthermore, kinematic variables are rarely explored by authors despite their great importance for performance. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of different types of recovery on swimming performance in 50 m repetitions in swimming athletes. This was an explanatory field research of experimental and quantitative nature. The sample consisted of 14 swimming athletes aged 13 to 17 years, of both sexes, with at least one year of competitive experience in the sport and participation in at least five competitions. There were four visits to the UFMT Aquatic Park, separated by at least 48 hours. During the first visit, the athletes gave their consent to participate in the research, and anamnesis, anthropometric measurements, and familiarization with the study protocol were also performed. In the following visits, experimental protocols were performed in which the athletes performed, after warming up, six maximum repetitions of 50 m crawl swimming with a three-minute recovery between them. In each of these visits, a different type of recovery was used, determined in a randomized order, as follows: 1) passive recovery in the water in a vertical position (RPV); 2) recovery performing breathing exercises (bobs) at the edge of the pool (RPB); and; 3) active recovery in the water (RA). The variables analyzed in each repetition were time, percentage of decrease in time, stroke cycle frequency, displacement per stroke cycle, swimming index, propulsive efficiency of the stroke, blood lactate, heart rate and subjective perception of effort. For statistical analysis, descriptive measures of mean or median and standard deviation were used, and the verification of data normality was performed using the Shapiro-Wilk test. In case of normal distribution, a Two-Way ANOVA of repeated measures (condition and time) was applied to compare the means. Bonferroni post-hoc was applied in case of main effects or interactions. The 50 m times increased significantly from the fourth repetition onwards, regardless of the recovery condition. The frequency of stroke cycles decreased in the fourth repetition in all conditions, but remained higher in the RPV and RPB conditions, while the displacement throughout a cycle did not change between repetitions. In general, swimming mechanics decreased significantly from the third repetition onwards, regardless of the condition, as shown by the swimming index. Blood lactate was lower with RPV and heart rate recovered only in the RPV and RPB conditions. We conclude that all three recovery conditions between repetitions promoted similar effects on performance recovery in swimmers and that RPB may be an option with combined effects of passive and active recoveries.