The effects of two different recovery protocols on the 100-metre front-crawl performance of male swimmers

Štrumbelj, Boro (author), Ušaj, Anton (author)

The aim of this study was to ascertain whether passive recovery with additional sodium hydrogen carbonate (NaHCO$_3$‒) ingestion affected 100-m swimming speed differently from active recovery during a simulation of a typical competition, which consisted of two trials with a 60-min recovery period. Nine male swimmers (mean age 20.9 ±1.6 years, stature 1.81 ± 8.5 m and body mass 78.1 ± 12.9 kg) completed two maximal 100-m front-crawl swims separated by a 60-min active recovery and two maximal 100-m front-crawl swims separated by a 60-min passive recovery with NaHCO$_3$ ingestion on a different test day. The active recovery protocol resulted in lower [LA] than the recovery with NaHCO$_3$ ingestion (p<.05), while pH, pCO$_2$ and [HCO$_3$‒] were higher in the recovery with NaHCO$_3$ ingestion protocol (p<.01). Neither protocol had a significant effect on 100-m swim time. In conclusion, a 60-min active swimming recovery at 65% of maximal velocity on the 100-m crawl or a passive recovery with NaHCO$_3$ intake in the same time interval had no significant effect on the second swimming performance, despite the different effects on pH, [HCO$_3$‒], pCO$_2$, and [LA]. In both experimental conditions, no differences in swimming time were found between the first and the second swim.

• Language: English
• Keywords: sport, blood, pH, [HCO$_3$‒], ], lactate, NaHCO$_3$, ingestion
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FŠ - Faculty of Sport
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2025
• Number of pages: Str. 281-288
• Numbering: Vol. 57, no. 2
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-184489
• UDC: 796.01-053.6
• ISSN on article: 1848-638X
• DOI: 10.26582/k.57.2.12
• COBISS.SI-ID: 268469251
• Publication date in RUL: 08.07.2026

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Kinesiology
• Shortened title: Kinesiology
• Publisher: Faculty of Kinesiology, University of Zagreb
• ISSN: 1848-638X
• COBISS.SI-ID: 527917337

Licences

• License: CC BY-NC 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
• Description: A creative commons license that bans commercial use, but the users don’t have to license their derivative works on the same terms.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Keywords: šport, kri, pH, [HCO$_3$‒], laktat, NaHCO$_3$, zaužitje