Acute effects of two resistance exercises on 25m swimming performance

The aim of this study was to examine the acute effects of two resistance exercises on 25m freestyle swimming performance. Twenty-eight regional and national male swimmers volunteered and were randomly assigned to one of three groups: Resistance Swimming Group (RS): (n=9; 16.2 ± 3.8 yr), Elastic Band Group (EB): (n=9; 15.9 ± 4.0 yr.), and Control Group (C) (n=10; 15.7 ± 2.2 yr). Swimmers completed a 25m swim trial at baseline. Subsequently, RS performed resisted crawl swimming with 30% of maximum load (1RM) in a power rack for 12m and 30 seconds later a 25m maximal swim trial. EB performed 10 seconds of arm freestyle strokes with elastic bands and 30 seconds later a 25m maximal swim trial. C performed only the second 25m maximal swim trial. Each group repeated this protocol four times, with two minutes of rest between repetitions. A two-way ANOVA revealed no significant differences in 25m swimming times between groups for any of the repetitions performed, and there were no significant differences in 25m swimming times between the repetitions within each group. The results showed that the resistance exercises performed in this study before the 25m swim trials did not affect swimming times.