Relationships between swim performance, maximal oxygen uptake and peak power output when wearing a wetsuit

This study was intended to investigate the effect of wearing a wetsuit (WS) on physical performance capacity, which are maximal oxygen uptake (VO(2)max) and maximal mechanical power output (POmax), and to demonstrate whether wearing a WS affected the relationship between maximal 400 m swim performance (V400) and VO(2)max, and between sprint swim performance (Vsprint) and VO(2)max. Twelve triathletes participated in this study. VO(2)max was determined during the continuous progressive swimming test. The mean velocity over maximal 400 m swim was defined as V400. Active drag (AD), Vsprint and POmax were measured by a specific method called perturbation method. Compared with wearing a swimsuit (SS), V400 was improved without enhancing VO(2)max and Vsprint was also improved without enhancing POmax and AD by wearing a WS. Significant correlations were found between V400 and VO(2)max and between Vsprint and POmax in the both suit conditions, but a higher correlation was found in the WS condition than in the SS condition. These results suggested that improved swim performance from wearing a WS was attributable only to improvement in technical factors, such as propulsion efficiency. In conclusion, during swimming with a WS, performance gain was not associated with physiological factors but with propulsion efficiency related to a gain in buoyancy and to drag reduction. However, when wearing a WS, V400 and Vsprint more reflected the values of VO(2)max and POmax, respectively. (C) 2007 Sports Medicine Australia. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.