INTRA-RELIABILITY OF ACTIVE DRAG VALUES USING THE ASSISTED TOWING METHOD (ATM) APPROACH

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to test the intra-reliability of the assisted towing method (ATM) approach at a constant velocity when estimating for active drag. Seven national level front crawl swimmers completed three trials of maximal free swimming and five active drag trials. The computed active drag values were analysed using within-subject intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) and typical error coefficient of variance percentages (%CVTE). Results revealed a nearly perfect confidence level (ICC=0.91 with a range of 0.58 to 0.98 and a %CVTE of 11.7). Therefore, using the ATM approach to estimate active drag in its current formatting will produce reliable results and should be used to pursue further research in active drag estimations.