Effects of active and passive recovery on performance during repeated-sprint swimming

• Published in: Journal of sports sciences Vol. 26; no. 14; pp. 1497 - 1505
• Main Authors: Toubekis, Argyris G., Peyrebrune, Michael C., Lakomy, Henryk K. A., Nevill, Mary E.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Abingdon Routledge 01.12.2008; Taylor & Francis
• Subjects: active recovery; Adolescent; Biological and medical sciences; fatigue; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Humans; Lactic Acid - blood; Male; passive recovery; Physical Endurance - physiology; Recovery of Function - physiology; repeated sprints; Sprint swimming; Swimming - physiology; Task Performance and Analysis; Vertebrates: body movement. Posture. Locomotion. Flight. Swimming. Physical exercise. Rest. Sports; Young Adult; Human; passive recovery; Sport; Fatigue; Swimming; Sprint swimming; active recovery; Recovery; repeated sprints
• ISSN: 0264-0414; 1466-447X
• DOI: 10.1080/02640410802287055

The effect of active and passive recovery on repeated-sprint swimming bouts was studied in eight elite swimmers. Participants performed three trials of two sets of front crawl swims with 5 min rest between sets. Set A consisted of four 30-s bouts of high-intensity tethered swimming separated by 30 s passive rest, whereas Set B consisted of four 50-yard maximal-sprint swimming repetitions at intervals of 2 min. Recovery was active only between sets (AP trial), between sets and repetitions of Set B (AA trial) or passive throughout (PP trial). Performance during and metabolic responses after Set A were similar between trials. Blood lactate concentration after Set B was higher and blood pH was lower in the PP (18.29 ± 1.31 mmol · l −1 and 7.12 ± 0.11 respectively) and AP (17.56 ± 1.22 mmol · l −1 and 7.14 ± 0.11 respectively) trials compared with the AA (14.13 ± 1.56 mmol · l −1 and 7.23 ± 0.10 respectively) trial (P < 0.01). Performance time during Set B was not different between trials (P > 0.05), but the decline in performance during Set B of the AP trial was less marked than in the AA or PP trials (main effect of sprints, P < 0.05). Results suggest that active recovery (60% of the 100-m pace) could be beneficial between training sets, and may compromise swimming performance between repetitions when recovery durations are short (< 2 min).