Effect chest wall restriction in water on aerobic power, cardio-respiratory functions and swimming performance of elite female swimmers

This study is aimed to evaluate the effect of 4 weeks swimming training with chest wall restriction on aerobic power, cardio-respiratory functions and swimming performance of elite female swimmers. 24 elite female swimmers volunteered to participate in this study and were randomly divide into two groups: Control (swimming training without chest wall restriction) and experimental group (swimming training with chest wall restriction). Both groups were in a monthly swimming program (they trained 3 times a week for a total of 4 weeks). They swam almost 3.5 to 4 km/d with 70 – 85% of HRmax. Aerobic power, pulmonary parameters, time to exhaustion and swimming performance were measured. To analyze data, student t test was used. The results showed that Time to exhaustion increased in group training with chest wall restrictor (P=0/012). T-20 test results showed improvements in experimental group. No significant difference was observed in VO2max, MVV, FVC, and FEV1/FVC in two groups. Also there was no significant difference between the groups. Therefore, the results showed that using chest elastic band in order to impose more stress on respiratory muscles during exercise leads to some adaptations in these muscles and it is associated with some improvements in exercise performance.