Figueiredo, P., Seifert, L., Vilas.Boas, J. P., & Fernandes, R. J. (2012). Spatio-temporal coordination in high intensity swimming. Presentation 1919 at the 59th Annual Meeting of the American College of Sports Medicine, San Francisco, California; May 29-June 2, 2012.

This study assessed the spatio-temporal coupling in front-crawl upper limbs performed in a high intensity swimming effort in front-crawl male swimmers (N = 10). Ss swam 200 m front crawl at race-pace. The swimming test was recorded by two above water and four underwater cameras operating at 50 Hz. The 21 digitized body landmarks underwent a three-dimensional direct linear transformation to yield the three-dimensional anatomical points positions of one complete stroke cycle per each 50 m lap. The mean swimming velocity was calculated as the horizontal displacement of the whole body center of mass over total stroke duration.

Swimming velocity decreased significantly from the first to the last 50 m lap. The mean continuous relative phase angles were ~188.1, ~186.8°, ~190.1°, and ~190.7°, respectively for the consecutive 50 m laps. There was no significant difference between the laps which indicates that limb coordination remained constant throughout the effort.

Implication. The front-crawl swimming inter-limb relationship is strongly preserved across a 200 m effort despite changes in velocity due to accumulated fatigue.

Return to Table of Contents for Biomechanics of Swimming.