Which temperature during the water immersion recovery is the best after a sprint swimming?
Abstract
The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of water immersion at different temperatures on fatigue and sprint swimming. Ten elite women swimmers, age (17.8±2.2), three times a week in 48-h intervals completed two 100-m front crawls (S and S) interspersed with a 15-m recovery period consisting of: contrast water therapy (CWT, alternating hot 40 degrees C, 2 min /cold 23 degrees C, 1min), cold water immersion (CWI, 23 degrees C) and hot water immersion (HWI, 40 degrees C). Before and after S1and S2 and every threemin during the recovery, skin temperature, blood lactate and heart rate were recorded. After the recovery, level of fatigue evaluated via TQR questioner, then participants performed (S2) and ultimately recorded the rate of perceived exertion through RPE questioner. Results showed that heart rate significantly decreased after CWI toward other groups. After CWT and CWI, skin temperature decreased significantly. Lactate removal was largest in CWT compared to the HWI. Both CWI and CWT were associated with improvement in swimming performance and following these methods TQR and RPE evaluated better than HWI (p 0.05). It seems CWT and CWI can be used in repeated high intensity interval performance with short recovery. © IDOSI Publications, 2012.