TETHERED AND NONTETHERED CRAWL SWIMMING

Abstract

Tethered Swimming has been used to train competitive swimmers in completely and partially tethered forms. Tethered swimming has also been used for research purposes because it is easier to monitor physiological and biomechanical responses when subjects are not moving (4)(6)(8)(9). When completely tethered, swimmers remain in one spot while they stroke against the water resistance while being held back by a rope or cable. On the other hand partially tethered swimmers move ahead while being restricted by some device like surgical tubing, mini-gyms, exer-genies, and rope and pulley devices with weights attached at one end. The concern has been that tethered swimming might have a detrimental effect on stroke mechanics. If this is true, then tethered swimming might produce negative training effects and produce questionable validity as a testing and research procedure.