The objective of this study was to analyze the effect of swimming training on the intensity corresponding to the anaerobic threshold (AnT) determined in the swimming pool and by arm ergometer, and also to check if the arm ergometer can be used to evaluate the effect of training on swimmers. Participants were seven swimmers of both sexes, with regional performance level, that had been submitted to the following tests before and after eight weeks of training: 1) 2 crawl sprints of 400 m at an intensity of 85% and 95% of their best velocity at each one of the distances, with 25mul of blood collection at the 1st, 3rd and 5th minute after each shot, for posterior analysis of blood lactate (YSI 1500); 2) incremental continuous test in the arm ergometer (2462 UBE Cybex): initial workload was 33.3 W and intensity was increased by 16.6 W every 3 min until voluntary exhaustion, with 25 mul of blood collection at the end of each stage. A control group of non-active individuals (n = 9), kept sedentary carried out procedure 2 in the same interval of time. The AnT in swimming (SAnT) and in the arm ergometer (AAnT) was determined by linear interpolation, considering a fixed lactate concentration of 4 and 3.5 mM, respectively. Results demonstrate a significant difference for the trained group, between pre- (130.4 + 20.4 W) and post-training (137.7 + 17.9 W) for the AAnT. However, no difference was found for the SAnT (1.09 + 0,1 m.s-1 and 1.13 + 0.1 m.s-1 p = 0.06). In the control group there was no difference for the AAnT between pre- (93.2 + 11.5) and post-training (87.7 + 7.2 W). The authors can conclude that the determination of the AnT by arm ergometer is useful to detect adjustments of swimmers with regional performance to aerobic capacity.
Arm ergometer; Swimming; Specificity; Anaerobic threshold
