Muscle Oxygenation, Heart Rate, and Blood Lactate Concentration During Submaximal and Maximal Interval Swimming

Athanasios A Dalamitros; Eleni Semaltianou; Argyris G Toubekis; Athanasios Kabasakalis

doi:10.3389/fspor.2021.759925

Muscle Oxygenation, Heart Rate, and Blood Lactate Concentration During Submaximal and Maximal Interval Swimming

Front Sports Act Living. 2021 Dec 13:3:759925. doi: 10.3389/fspor.2021.759925. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Athanasios A Dalamitros¹, Eleni Semaltianou¹, Argyris G Toubekis², Athanasios Kabasakalis¹

Affiliations

¹ Laboratory of Evaluation of Human Biological Performance, School of Physical Education and Sport Sciences, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece.
² School of Physical Education and Sport Science, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece.

Abstract

This study aimed to determine the relationship between three testing procedures during different intensity interval efforts in swimming. Twelve national-level swimmers of both genders executed, on different occasions and after a standardized warm-up, a swimming protocol consisting of either a submaximal (Submax: 8 efforts of 50 m) or a maximal interval (Max: 4 efforts of 15 m), followed by two series of four maximal 25 m efforts. Near-infrared spectroscopy in terms of muscle oxygen saturation (SmO₂), heart rate (HR), and blood lactate concentration (BLa) were analyzed at three testing points: after the Submax or the Max protocol (TP₁), after the 1st 4 × 25-m (TP₂), and after the 2nd maximal 4 × 25-m set (TP₃). BLa and HR showed significant changes during all testing points in both protocols (P ≤ 0.01; ES range: 0.45-1.40). SmO₂ was different only between TP₁ and TP₃ in both protocols (P ≤ 0.05-0.01; ES range: 0.36-1.20). A large correlation during the Max protocol between SmO₂ and HR (r: 0.931; P ≤ 0.01), and also between SmO₂ and BLa was obtained at TP₁ (r: 0.722; P ≤ 0.05). A range of moderate-to-large correlations was revealed for SmO₂/HR, and BLa/HR for TP₂ and TP₃ after both protocols (r range: 0.595-0.728; P ≤ 0.05) were executed. SmO₂ is a novel parameter that can be used when aiming for a comprehensive evaluation of competitive swimmers' acute responses to sprint interval swimming, in conjunction with HR and BLa.

Keywords: different intensity protocols; interrelationship; interval swimming; near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS); physiological testing procedures.