In breaststroke races, the dolphin kick could finish before, at the same time, or during the arm pull-out, but it is unclear how swimmers perform this technique. The aim of this study was to investigate whether swimmers glide between the dolphin kick and arm pull-out, favour continuity or even overlap those two phases, as it would impact the active underwater sequence. Fourteen international and national male swimmers performed 100-m breaststroke with all-out effort in a pre-calibrated 25 m swimming pool. A multi-camera system tracked the head of the swimmers. Key points of the active underwater sequence were obtained from notational analysis. A hierarchical cluster analysis identified three coordination profiles. All swimmers started their dolphin kick before the arm pull-out. However, one swimmer started the arm pull-out before the end of the dolphin kick, seven swimmers started the arm pull-out after the end of the dolphin kick, and four swimmers synchronised the beginning of the arm pull-out and the end of the dolphin kick, while two other swimmers mixed two coordination profiles among the start and the three turns. Those different profiles allow achieving similar performance outcome, suggesting individual training regarding the underwater phase.

A atividade física proporciona benefícios para a saúde e qualidade de vida de mulheres idosas. Ainda são escassos os estudos longitudinais em mulheres idosas com duração superior a um ano de prática de exercício físico. Assim o objetivo do estudo foi analisar os efeitos de três anos de treino multicomponente na capacidade funcional de mulheres idosas. Métodos: 51 mulheres (66.7±5.30 anos e 159±0.11cm) participaram ao longo de três anos num programa constituído por períodos de nove meses de treino multicomponente seguidos de três meses de destreino. As avaliações decorreram no início/fim de cada período de treino e destreino. Resultados: No 1º, 2º e 3º ano verificaram-se aumentos estatisticamente significativos em todos os parâmetros da capacidade funcional (p<0.05). No entanto, o 2º ano revelou ser o período de treino onde observamos os maiores aumentos nos testes T6M (7.43%), SA (383.33%), AC (40.33%), FA (13.05%) e LS (12.5%) (p<0.05). Os testes T6M, LS, FA, AC, SA melhoraram entre 4.17% a 576.60% em todos os períodos de treino e diminuíram entre 3.21% a 85.31% em todos os períodos de destreino. Conclusões: Três anos de treino multicomponente contribuíram para a melhoria da capacidade funcional em mulheres idosas, principalmente no 2º ano de intervenção.

Background: Resuming a physical exercise program after a period of cessation is common in older women. Monitoring the responses during this detraining (DT) and retraining (RT) may allow us to analyze how the body reacts to an increase and a reduction in physical inactivity. Therefore, we conducted a follow-up training, DT, and RT in prehypertensive older women to analyze the response to these periods. Methods: Twenty-three prehypertensive older women (EG; 68.3 ± 2.8 years; 1.61 ± 0.44 m) performed 36 weeks of the multicomponent training program (MTP) followed by twelve weeks of DT plus eight weeks of RT. Fifteen prehypertensive older women (CG; 66.3 ± 3.2 years; 1.59 ± 0.37 m) maintained their normal routine. Functional capacity (FC), lipid, and hemodynamic profile were assessed before, during 24 and 36 weeks of the MTP, after 4 and 12 weeks of DT, and after 8 weeks of RT. Results: After 24 weeks of the MTP, only SBP did not improve. Four weeks of DT did not affect lower body strength (30-CS), TC, or GL. Eight weeks of RT improved BP (SBP: −2.52%; ES: 0.36; p < 0.00; DBP: −1.45%; ES: 0.44; p < 0.02), handgrip strength (3.77%; ES: 0.51; p < 0.00), and 30-CS (3.17%; ES: 0.38; p < 0.04) compared with 36 weeks of the MTP. Conclusions: Eight weeks of RT allowed patients to recover the benefits lost with detraining, which after only four weeks affected them negatively, and the systematic practice of exercise contributed to greater regulation of BP since 24 weeks of the MTP proved not to be enough to promote positive effects of SBP.

The purpose of this study was to analyse swimmers’ perceptual judgements of a simulated time‐to‐contact task in freestyle swimming relays.The study sample consisted of 31 national‐level swimmers of both genders (n = 18 males, 17.22 ± 1.95 yrs.; n = 13 females, 14.61 ± .76 yrs.). Participants were asked to watch two videos corresponding to the last course of a given swimmer during a competition of 4 × 100 m and 4 × 200 m freestyle events. These videos were presented with temporal occlusion correspondent to predetermined approaching distances (7.5, 5.0, and 2.5 m). Participants were required to simulate a typical position in standby for exiting the block and estimate the time‐to‐contact of the incoming swimmer by pressing a switch. A Wilcoxon test was performed to determine differences between time‐to‐contact and real contact time.The results showed that estimation of time‐to‐contact was generally lower than real contact time at all approaching distances (with occlusion) and for both genders (p < .05), except at a 7.5‐m distance in the men's 4 × 200 m (p = .744; r = .09) and at 5.0 m in both the 4 × 100 m and 4 × 200 m for the female group (p = .279, r = .22 for 4 × 100 m; p = .2453, r = .17 for 4 × 200 m). The larger variation (Δ) between estimation and real contact time was found at a 7.5 m occlusion distance in the female 4 × 100 m (p < .001; r = .82).Swimmers tend to underestimate the time‐to‐contact of the incoming swimmer, in the context of a simulated relay race. Taken together, these results highlight the importance of perceptual abilities development in swimmers to optimize their technique and effectiveness during relay starts.