Actuating periodically an elastic filament in a viscous liquid generally breaks the constraints of Purcell's scallop theorem, resulting in the generation of a net propulsive force. This observation suggests a method to design simple swimming devices-which we call "elastic swimmers"-where the actuation mechanism is embedded in a solid body and the resulting swimmer is free to move. In this paper...

Ultraviolet B radiation (UV-B) can reduce swimming performance by increasing reactive oxygen species (ROS) formation. High concentrations of ROS can damage mitochondria, resulting in reduced ATP production. ROS can also damage muscle proteins, thereby leading to impaired muscle contractile function. We have shown previously that UV-B exposure reduces locomotor performance in mosquitofish (Gambu...

Olbrecht J. Triathlon: swimming for winning. J. Hum. Sport Exerc. Vol. 6, No. 2, pp. 233-246, 2011. Swimming performance in triathlon gradually gets of overriding importance in view of the final positioning in a race. It is important to end up swimming in the leading group(s) and to consider the impact of the swim stage on the 2 remaining sports disciplines in order to outbalance the athlete’s ...

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effects of feedback on the freestyle swimming learning and performance of novice swimmers. Sixty male (Mage=18.7, SD=1.82) first year students were randomly assigned into four groups: self-modeling, expert-modeling, verbal, and control group. The intervention program lasted for seven weeks. Participants were evaluated in 25m freestyle swim...

Numerical simulations are employed to study the hydrodynamics of self-propelled thunniform swimming. The swimmer is modeled as a tuna-like flexible body undulating with kinematics of thunniform type. The wake evolution follows the vortex structures arranged nearly vertical to the forward direction, vortex dipole formation resulting in the propulsion motion, and finally a reverse Kármán vortex s...

The high volume of training involved in competitive swim training result in cumulative overload injuries. Knee pain ranks second to shoulder pain as a common complaint in competitive swimmers. Most knee pain occurs on the medial side of the knee and occurs most commonly in breaststroke swimmers; however, knee pain may occur in all strokes. This article will review the incidence, biomechanical a...