Metabolic responses to drafting during front crawl swimming

Abstract

We examined the metabolic responses to front crawl swimming when following directly behind (drafting) another swimmer. Seven trained male swimmers participated as subjects. VO2max (l.min-1) was measured during a progressive tethered swim test and was also estimated from a 20 s sample of expired air collected immediately after an all-out, 549 m (600 yard) swim. On different days, each subject performed two 549 m trials at 95% of his maximal swim velocity, one with drafting and one without drafting, using a counter-balanced design. Underwater pace lights were used to establish the predetermined swim velocity. Drafting significantly reduced post-exercise VO2 (2.85 +/- 0.63 vs 3.12 +/- 0.66 l.min-1), blood lactate (3.4 +/- 0.6 vs 5.0 +/- 0.5 mM), and rating of perceived exertion (11.7 +/- 0.4 vs 14.9 +/- 0.5) (P less than 0.05). A repeated measures ANOVA (condition X distance) also revealed significant reductions in HR during the 549 m swim (137.7 vs 146.8 beats.min-1) (P less than 0.05). The results indicate that drafting results in a decrease in energy expenditure for the range of speeds examined.