Respiratory muscle fatigue is a physiological effect which has been witnessed in both maximal and submaximal exercises [1]. Therefore, considerable attention has been paid to the potential benefits that respiratory muscle training may have in improving athletic performance. Some studies have reported variations in blood lactate, heart rate and ventilation following respiratory muscle training [2]. Some studies, however, reported no variations in these factors [3, 4]. Therefore, 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. Method: 24 elite female swimmers volunteered to participate in this study and were randomly divide into two groups: experimental group 1 (swimming training without chest wall restriction) and experimental group 2 (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. Caroton test, Spirometery, Modified Balk test and T-20 were used to measure aerobic power, pulmonary parameters, time to exhaustion and swimming performance respectively. To analyze data, student t test was used. Result: 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 group 2 (average speed (P=0/028), average time foe each 100 m (P=0/012), average distance (P=0/018)). No significant difference was observed in VO2max, MVV, FVC, and FEV1/FVC in two groups. Also there was no significant difference between the groups. Discussion: The results showed that using chest elastic band (chest wall restriction) 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. Respiratory muscles, like skeletal muscles, respond to specific training so that training increase respiratory muscles strength and endurance.
© Copyright 2012 17th Annual Congress of the European College of Sport Science (ECSS), Bruges, 4. -7. July 2012. Published by Vrije Universiteit Brussel. All rights reserved.