Our aim of present study was to investigate the differences in force production between arms during front crawl tethered swimming (TS). Firstly, 14 young male swimmers (14.2 ± 1.09 yrs; 168.3 ± 2.22 cm; 59.9 ± 4.77 kg) undertook a 30 s maximum front crawl TS test. It was observed that preferred arm (P_Fmax) produces a maximum force higher than non-preferred arm (NP_Fmax). Additionally, was verified that the decrease in maximum force was higher for P_Fmax than NP_Fmax. In the second part of the study, 6 elite male swimmers (19.8 ± 2.23 yrs; 183.6 ± 3.64 cm; 77.3 ± 3.64 kg) replicated the methodology, being the individual curves assessed trough polynomial curves, which allowed identifying the unbalance between arms. This methodology may detect a limiting factor of performance being a useful tool for coaches training prescription.
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