Research in Sport Medicine and Technology

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.