Maximal Heart Rate for Swimmers
1
Department of Physical Performance, Norwegian School of Sport Sciences, Oslo 0863, Norway
2
Polar Electro Oy, Kempele 90440, Finland
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Sports 2019, 7(11), 235; https://doi.org/10.3390/sports7110235
Received: 29 September 2019 / Revised: 7 November 2019 / Accepted: 10 November 2019 / Published: 12 November 2019
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Monitoring Physiological Adaptation to Physical Training)
The main purpose of this study was to identify whether a different protocol to achieve maximal heart rate should be used in sprinters when compared to middle-distance swimmers. As incorporating running training into swim training is gaining increased popularity, a secondary aim was to determine the difference in maximal heart rate between front crawl swimming and running among elite swimmers. Twelve elite swimmers (4 female and 8 male, 7 sprinters and 5 middle-distance, age 18.8 years and body mass index 22.9 kg/m2) swam three different maximal heart rate protocols using a 50 m, 100 m and 200 m step-test protocol followed by a maximal heart rate test in running. There were no differences in maximal heart rate between sprinters and middle-distance swimmers in each of the swimming protocols or between land and water (all p ≥ 0.05). There were no significant differences in maximal heart rate beats-per-minute (bpm) between the 200 m (mean ± SD; 192.0 ± 6.9 bpm), 100 m (190.8 ± 8.3 bpm) or 50 m protocol (191.9 ± 8.4 bpm). Maximal heart rate was 6.7 ± 5.3 bpm lower for swimming compared to running (199.9 ± 8.9 bpm for running; p = 0.015). We conclude that all reported step-test protocols were suitable for achieving maximal heart rate during front crawl swimming and suggest that no separate protocol is needed for swimmers specialized on sprint or middle-distance. Further, we suggest conducting sport-specific maximal heart rate tests for different sports that are targeted to improve the aerobic capacity among the elite swimmers of today.
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Keywords:
front crawl; running; physiology; training monitoring; training load; training intensity; step-test; sprint; middle distance; athletes
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MDPI and ACS Style
Olstad, B.H.; Bjørlykke, V.; Olstad, D.S. Maximal Heart Rate for Swimmers. Sports 2019, 7, 235. https://doi.org/10.3390/sports7110235
AMA Style
Olstad BH, Bjørlykke V, Olstad DS. Maximal Heart Rate for Swimmers. Sports. 2019; 7(11):235. https://doi.org/10.3390/sports7110235
Chicago/Turabian StyleOlstad, Bjørn H.; Bjørlykke, Veronica; Olstad, Daniela S. 2019. "Maximal Heart Rate for Swimmers" Sports 7, no. 11: 235. https://doi.org/10.3390/sports7110235
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