The Effect of a High Intensity Swim on Blood Lactic Acid (La) Concentration during Recovery of Paralympic and Regular Swimmers

Background: The capability to monitor physical effort during training is important for every athlete as part of their training program. Blood lactate concentration and heart rate are the most common tools for this purpose. However, the response of swimmers with amputations to these variables during increasing physical effort and recovery has not been reported extensively in the literature.

Aim and Methods: The aim of the current study was to compare lactate (La) and heart rate (HR) values during 30 min recovery following an intensive 100 m swim of 7 disabled and 9 able-bodied swimmers. La and HR were measured 5 times after the swim (1.5, 5, 10, 15, 30 min).

Results: In disabled and able-bodied swimmers, the highest La was observed after 5 min of recovery (10.7 mM and 9.09 mM, respectively). No significant differences were found in the rate of La decrease during recovery when regression lines between the two study groups were compared. La in the disabled group remained high in relation to the able-bodied swimmers, even after 30 minutes of recovery. Comparing HR during the recovery resulted in finding a difference between disabled and able-bodied swimmers only 1.5 min after the end of the swim.

Conclusions: There were no differences in the La values measured during recovery of disabled swimmers and that of able-bodied ones after a 100 m intensive swim, suggesting a similar recovery pattern.