Abstract:
ABSTRACT The purpose of the study was to evaluate the effects of no, short, or regular warm-up and Upper-Body Vibration (UBV) only or UBV+ short warm-up on swimming performance in Masters Swimmers. Six females and four males, aged 24-50, healthy master swimmers volunteered to participate in the study. Participants completed all assigned warm-ups (no, short, regular, UBV-only, or UBV + short) in counterbalanced order, rested for three minutes and completed a 50-yard (45.7 m) freestyle maximal performance time trial. Rating of perceived exertion (RPE) and heart rate (HR) were measured post warm-up and post 50-yd time trial. No significant difference (p = 0.987) was found among no, short or regular warm-up regarding 50-yd freestyle time (29.0 ± 3.7, 29.0 ± 3.6, and 29.1 ± 3.4 s, respectively). No significant difference (p = 0.563) was found among regular, UBV-only or UBV + short warm-ups regarding 50-yd freestyle time (29.1 ± 3.6, 28.9 ± 3.4, and 29.1 ± 3.6 s, respectively). RPE after no warm up (6 ± 0) was significantly lower compared to after short (13 ± 2, p < 0.001) or regular warm-up (12 ± 2, p < 0.001). RPE after regular warm-up was higher (12 ± 2) compared to UBV-only warm-up (9 ± 2), approaching statistical significance (p = 0.059). RPE post 50-yd for no, short or regular warm-up and after regular, UBV-only or UBV + short were not significantly different (p =0.76, p = 0.216). HR after no, short or regular warm-up before 50-yards was not significantly different (p = 0.062); however, a significantly higher (p = 0.023) HR was observed after regular warm-up (88 ± 15 b/min) compared to UBV + short (75 ± 9 b/min). HR post 50-yd after regular warm-up (148 ± 15 b/min) was significantly higher compared to no (136 ±20 b/min) p = 0.001, UBV-only (139 ± 12 b/min) p = 0.005 and UBV + short ( 138 ± 14 b/min) p = 0.013, but not short (142 ± 17 b/min) warm-up (p = 0.077). In conclusion, Master Swimmers may perform the same or better with no or short and UBV-only or UBV + short, compared to regular warm-up.
