Critical velocity in swimmers of different ages.

Background: In swimming one of the most employed training speed among coaches is the non-invasive theoretical critical velocity (TCV) defined as the velocity that can be maintained continuously without exhaustion.

Methods: We calculated the 4 mmol/L lactate critical velocity (MCV) in a group of swimmers of different ages (young, elite and master), and compared results to the predicted TCV defined starting from the 200 and 400 m freestyle best seasonal performances. A steady-state test consisted in 20 repetitions of 100 m each was performed to study the effect of the imposed MCV in the three athletes' categories.

Spirometry improvement after muscular exercise in elite swimmers.

Background: An increased sympathetic activity during muscular effort is a well established physiological response, whose intensity is known to increase with the muscular load. Spirometry was described to improve as an effect of swimming training in healthy and asthmatic subjects, suggesting a decrease in airway resistance The aim was to investigate the possible effect of muscular exercise (swimming) on spirometry, in particular searching for possible differences because of different swimming times.

Methods: The measurements were performed on 9 highly trained male competitive swimmers (age: 41±12.