Abstract

There is no doubt that many swimmers do benefit from wearing bodysuit. The questions whether these suits improve performance and should they be allowed in competition are still being asked. The first aim of the study was to determine the influence of swimming suit (FS) on 50 m crawl overall time. Furthermore, possible differences of different segments of the race as well as their impact on total time for two different conditions were also examined. Fifteen male national and international level swimmers completed two trials of 50 m-crawl swimming in regular suit and swimming body suit. Block-off time, Start time, Turn time, Split time, Race time and number of strokes per 50 m were recorded. The second part of the study analysed the differences in fatigue parameters (heart rate, blood lactate concentrations, and number of strokes) in 400 m crawl constant pace test. The results show that the FS suit appears to enhance performance on 50 m crawls. Furthermore turn time, split time and race time were significantly faster while swimming wearing FS. Most of the difference (0.31 s) was gained after first 25 m and turn had been completed. In this research swimming body suit improved performance by 1.6% (0.41 s). It appears that the suit is more beneficial for start and turn (streamlining and kicking) than for swimming the full stroke. The 400 m-crawl constant pace trial determined the differences in fatigue parameters. The post-swim blood lactate concentrations and heart rate values were significantly lower while swimming in the FS suit even though there were no differences in number of strokes. These findings suggest that the FS suit seems to reduce the level of fatigue during 400 m-crawl constant pace test. Verf.-Referat