Journal of Sports Science and Medicine (2009) 8, 357-365

http://www.jssm.org

Research article

Combined strength and endurance training in competitive swimmers

Stian Aspenes 1 , Per-Ludvik Kjendlie 2, Jan Hoff 1 and Jan Helgerud 1
1

Department of Circulation and Medical Imaging, Faculty of Medicine, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, and 2Department of Physical Performance, Norwegian School of Sport Sciences, Oslo, Norway

Abstract
A combined intervention of strength and endurance training is
common practice in elite swimming training, but the scientific
evidence is scarce. The influences between strength and endurance training have been investigated in other sports but the
findings are scattered. Some state the interventions are negative
to each other, some state there is no negative relationship and
some find bisected and supplementary benefits from the combination when training is applied appropriately. The aim of this
study was to investigate the impact of a combined intervention
among competitive swimmers. 20 subjects assigned to a training
intervention group (n = 11) or a control group (n = 9) from two
different teams completed the study. Anthropometrical data,
tethered swimming force, land strength, performance in 50m,
100m and 400m, work economy, peak oxygen uptake, stroke
length and stroke rate were investigated in all subjects at preand post-test. A combined intervention of maximal strength and
high aerobic intensity interval endurance training 2 sessions per
week over 11 weeks in addition to regular training were used,
while the control group continued regular practice with their
respective teams. The intervention group improved land
strength, tethered swimming force and 400m freestyle performance more than the control group. The improvement of the 400m
was correlated with the improvement of tethered swimming
force in the female part of the intervention group. No change
occurred in stroke length, stroke rate, performance in 50m or
100m, swimming economy or peak oxygen uptake during
swimming. Two weekly dry-land strength training sessions for
11 weeks increase tethered swimming force in competitive
swimmers. This increment further improves middle distance
swimming performance. 2 weekly sessions of high-intensity
interval training does not improve peak oxygen uptake compared with other competitive swimmers.
Key words: Oxygen consumption, muscle strength, metabolic
efficiency.

Introduction
Exercises to improve maximal muscle strength and
maximal aerobic endurance capacity are essential elements for enhancing competitive swimming performance.
Several studies have investigated the effects of maximal
strength or strength-related training (Girold et al., 2006;
2007; Miyashita and Kanehisa, 1983; Petersen et al.,
1984; Sharp et al., 1982; Tanaka et al., 1993; Toussaint
and Vervoorn, 1990; Trappe and Pearson, 1994) or aerobic endurance capacity training (Barzdukas et al., 1992;
Costill et al., 1988; 1991, D'Acquisto et al. 1992; Faude et
al. 2008; Gergley et al. 1984; Houston et al. 1981; Kirwan
et al. 1988; Konstantaki et al. 1999; Magel et al. 1975),
but none have investigated a combined intervention even

though it is common in modern competitive swimming.

Former studies have found positive effects of interventions combining strength and endurance training in both
basketball (Balabinis et al. 2003) and soccer athletes
(Hoff et al. 2002b), along with runners (Tanaka et al.
1998; Yamamoto et al. 2008) and cyclists (Tanaka et al.
1998). The strength training approach is neural adaptations, simultaneously limiting muscular hypertrophy and
increasing body weight (Sale 2003). Endurance training
improving maximal oxygen uptake (VO2max) is a response
from enhanced cardiac stroke volume (O'Toole 2000)
prior to improving the oxidative capacity of the peripheral
muscles (Helgerud et al. 2007). Both abilities have the
potential to be improved without one influencing the
other.
Strength training in swimming improves swimming performance (Girold et al. 2006; 2007, Toussaint
and Vervoorn 1990; Trappe and Pearson 1994) and performance-related parameters such as increased stroke
length (Toussaint and Vervoorn 1990), reduced stroke
rate (Girold et al. 2006; 2007) and increased tethered
swimming force (Girold et al. 2006; 2007, Toussaint and
Vervoorn 1990; Trappe and Pearson 1994). Swimming
velocity is the product of stroke length and stroke rate.
However, of the three studies investigating the effects of
dry-land strength training on swimming (Girold et al.
2007; Tanaka et al. 1993; Trappe and Pearson 1994) only
one found benefits between a combined strength and
swim training group versus a swim-training only group
(Girold et al. 2007). Neural adaptations may cause beneficial effects on work economy (Hoff et al. 2002a) through
different mechanisms such as improved reflex potentiation, alterations of the synergists, alterations of the cocontraction of antagonist muscles and increases in electromyographic activity, but this approach has not been
investigated in swimming although Rouard et al (Rouard
et al. 1992) showed that muscular recruitment was higher
for maximal swimming speed than mediocre speeds. Silva
et al (2007) used a feed forward neural network models
method to predict 400m freestyle performance. They did
not find any influence of dry land strength on performance, but swim velocity at lactate threshold was highly
correlated with performance in both genders. The work
economy at a given velocity can be improved by altering
stroke length or stroke rate (Barbosa et al. 2008), and is
considered one of the three major factors accounting for
inter-individual variance in aerobic endurance performance along with VO2max and lactate threshold (Pate and
Kriska 1984), where VO2max is considered the most important of these (Helgerud et al. 2007; strand et al.

Received: 11 February 2009 / Accepted: 27 May 2009 / Published (online): 01 September 2009

Strength and endurance in swimmers

358

2003). Thus, the improvement of VO2max is of major interest. A traditional pragmatic approach in swimming
training has been to develop endurance capacity through
high training volumes (Costill et al. 1988; 1991). This is
supported by DAcquisto et al (D'Acquisto et al. 1992)
who found that VO2max improved in a 60 versus 20 minute
training session intervention of the same intensity (76
2% of VO2max) over 5 weeks in moderate level swimmers.
However, 20 or 60 minute sessions 5 times a week are not
representative training volumes for modern competitive
swimming. Hence these findings must be further evaluated. In fact, five studies (Costill et al. 1988; 1991, Faude
et al. 2008; Houston et al. 1981; Kirwan et al. 1988) have
investigated traditional high training volumes versus high
intensity training of lower volume. They all concluded
that there seem to be no benefits of high volume compared to high intensity. However, the studies are detained
with lack of control groups (Costill et al. 1988; Kirwan et
al. 1988) or lack of subject-matching (Faude et al. 2008),
expert, but merely regional level swimmers (Costill et al.
1991, Houston et al. 1981) or small intervention groups
(Faude et al. 2008; Houston et al. 1981). Recently, Helgerud et al (2007) investigated the same in treadmill running. They found that high intensity training is more efficient than medium- or low-intensity training of high volumes in improving VO2max. Although VO2max in swimming has been of major interest to researchers since the
1960s (Magel and Faulkner 1967), no studies have concluded which methods are more efficient in improving
VO2max for competitive swimmers. This may partly rely
on the methodological challenges in measuring VO2max in
swimming (Rinehardt et al. 1991).
The aim of this study was to investigate the effect
of a combined intervention of maximal strength training
and high-intensity interval training on swimming performance and performance related parameters such as
swimming force, maximal velocity, swimming economy
and maximal oxygen uptake.

Methods
Subjects
Participants were included if they were above 14 years of
age, free from injury and train regularly for at least 6
times a week. They were excluded if they failed to comply with more than 60% of the intervention. 26 subjects
were included after written informed consent was signed
by the subjects or their guardian for those under 18 years
of age. The intervention group included 13 subjects from
two teams and the control group included 13 subjects
from three different teams. Efforts were made to recruit
subjects for making comparable groups. Four of the con-

trol group subjects withdrew from the study during the

intervention period because of injury not related to the
investigation (one), illness (two) and personal reasons
(one). One intervention group subject withdrew because
of illness and another was excluded because of low compliance in strength training. There was an intention to
recruit at least five subjects of each gender in each group,
but the withdrawals left only two male subjects in the
control group. The swimmers in the intervention group
consisted of stroke specialists in freestyle (five persons),
butterfly (three), breaststroke (two) and individual medley
(one). Two of them were sprinters, the rest were middle or
long distance swimmers. The control group consisted of 6
freestyle, one breaststroke, one backstroke and one butterfly swimmer. One of these was a sprinter.
Lying body length was measured in a supine position with heels against the wall, and the distance from the
wall to the top of the scull was measured. Reaching height
was measured from heels to the tip of the middle finger in
a supine position with 180 bilateral shoulder flexion, and
palm of one hand on the back of the other. Body mass
was measured on a balance scale (Type 304, Stathmos,
Sweden). Physical characteristics for all groups are reported in Table 1.
Training interventions
The intervention group underwent a combined strength
and endurance training regimen similar to Hoff et al (Hoff
et al. 2002b). On average two combined training sessions
were brought out per week, but due to vacations, competitions and a training camp, between one and three training
sessions were carried out. A combined intervention was
chosen as few swimmers were available and this approach
best represents regular competitive swimming practice.
Further, the mechanisms of the interventions have been
described earlier and do not negatively influence each
other. The endurance training was carried out in front
crawl swimming in a 25m pool. Before each interval
training the swimmers carried out a warm up of 20-40
minutes. A training regimen of 4 4 minute high intensity intervals separated by three minute moderate intensity
periods was used (Helgerud et al. 2007). The four minute
intervals were carried out at 90-95% of individual HRmax.
The three minute separation periods and three minute cool
down period consisted of moderate swimming at 60-75%
of individual HRmax. The subjects exercise heart rate was
monitored using short range radio telemetry units (Polar
Electro Oy, Kempele, Finland) during the interval training. Feedback was given immediately after each interval
based on the heart rate at the end. Those swimmers who
did not use a short range radio telemetry unit were instructed to increase velocity as steady as possible up to

Table 1. Physical characteristics in mean (standard deviation).

Intervention group
Control group
All (n = 11)
Female (n = 5)
All (n = 9)
Female (n = 7)
17.5(2.9)
16.8 (2.0)
15.9 (1.1)
15.6(.8)
Age (years)
1.71 (.09)
1.66 (.03)
1.73 (.06)
1.70 (.03)
LBL (m)
2.18 (.11)
2.11 (.03)
2.21 (.11)
2.17(.08)
RH (m)
58.9 (10.2)
53.4 (3.1)
58.3 (6.6)
56.3 (5.7)
BM (kg)
Pre
59.5 (10.1)
53.6 (3.0)
59.7 (6.9) *
57.4 (5.8)
Post
LBL: lying body length, m: metres, RH: reaching height, BM: body mass, kg: kilograms.
* Significant change in group at p < 0.05.

Aspenes et al.

100m, and then keep velocity at a maximal performance

pace for the rest of the four minutes. They were instructed
to measure heart rate by the pulse of the carotid artery and
a pace watch over 10 seconds immediately after every
interval. The velocity during the intervals was also monitored using a stop watch.
The strength training consisted of a 5-10 minute
cardiovascular warm up on an ergometer bike, a treadmill,
or by swimming. In addition, a specific warm up procedure using 10-15 repetitions of 50-80% of 1RM in the
strength training apparatus were performed before the
intervention training. The strength training consisted of
five maximal repetitions for three series with initial
maximal mobilization of force in the concentric action
and a slow eccentric phase at one side of a cable cross
over apparatus. As the subjects managed to carry out a set
of five repetitions, the load was increased by 1 kg. A 2-5
minutes rest interval was allowed between sets. The
strength training was designed to imitate the butterfly
stroke starting at approximately 170 shoulder extension
with parallel hands on a bar and pulling the bar down to
10 shoulder extension by bilateral shoulder flexion in one
movement. Thereby the primarily engaged muscles were
the latissimus dorsi, triceps brachii and the rotator cuff
which are all important in freestyle swimming. All
strength training was supervised, and effort was put on all
subjects to exercise with the heaviest load possible at each
session. Swimmers were allowed to drop the elbow below
the line between the hand and the shoulder to prevent
from impingement-problems and possibly shoulder pain.
The intervention group was under close surveillance during both strength training and high intensity intervals.
Both groups kept an individual training diary (sters et
al. 2002) which recorded how many meters the swimmer
covered in total, in three intensity zones, and how much
time was spent on dry land exercise. The zones were as
follows: zone one (60-85% of HRmax), zone two (85-95%
of HRmax) and zone three (>95% of HRmax). We included
swimmers from 5 different teams and had an intention to
register as individually correct training as possible. Therefore we felt the need to collect training diaries from the
swimmers as some might stay out of training or not conform with the training prescribed from the coach. The
swimmers were told that they were supposed to write
what they had done and not what they were supposed to
do, and that the diary was subject to professional secrecy.
Swimming performance
Time trials of 50m, 100m and 400m front crawl maximal
swimming were conducted one to four days before VO2tests in 25m pools. One subject from the control group
was ill over several days just before the pre test, and three
subjects from the intervention group were ill over several
days just before the post test. For these subjects their best
times were retrieved from their most recent personal records.
Bioenergetical parameters
The swimming economy test consisted of four submaximal swims at increasing velocity, from 0.7 to 1.2 ms-1,
with increments of 0.05 or 0.1 ms-1 depending on the

359

development of the respiratory exchange ratio of the previous velocity. After the fourth workload, a swim test of
four to six minutes with increasing intensity ending with a
maximal effort was conducted to measure peak oxygen
uptake in swimming (VO2peak). Maximal heart rate was
monitored and recorded continuously using short range
radio telemetry (Polar S610i, Polar Electro Oy, Kempele,
Finland) and a telemetry antenna connected to the
MetaMax II. Five strokes of the heart were added to the
heart rate at the end of the VO2peaktest and considered
their maximal swimming heart rate (HRmax).
Both swimming economy and VO2peak was measured in a 25m pool. The term VO2peak was used as pilot
investigations showed that common criteria (strand et al.
2003) for a VO2max measurement were difficult to obtain
in swimming. Especially, to reach a respiratory exchange
ratio equal to or above 1.15. A specially designed breathing valve for swimming (Toussaint et al. 1987), modified
to ensure a tighter fit of the apparatus to the head of the
swimmer, was attached to the subjects (Kjendlie et al.
2003). Direct measurements of VO2 were made throughout the tests using a portable mixing chamber gasanalyzer system (Cortex MetaMax II, Cortex, Leipzig,
Germany), which has formerly been found valid (Medb
et al. 2002). Respiratory parameters were averaged in
sequences of 10 seconds, and expressed in the MetaSoft
version 1.11.5 software (Cortex Biophysik GmbH). The
valve with hoses (volume of 3.4 L each) was always
placed in a vertical manner to ensure minimal water resistance. Working time for each submaximal trial was four
to six minutes, the rest period between each trial was
passive and a minimum of 30 seconds as the valve was
very uncomfortable to wear and thus for them to have a
break and stay focused and motivated. Swimming economy was defined as the average VO2 m-1 of the fourth
and fifth 50m of the submaximal level, but if the VO2values fluctuated with more than 2 mLkg-1 min-1 an
additional 50m was included until stable values were
obtained. A set of pace-lights controlled the swimming
velocity. These lights consisted of 23 clusters of LEDlights attached to an A/D board (Arcom PCO24, Arcom
Control Systems, Kansas City, USA) and a computer.
Turn time and increased kick-off velocity was incorporated into the pattern of the moving lights. All work economy bouts were of aerobic intensity to assess a general
work economy measure at a between-subject comparable
velocity. The period from push-off at the beginning of
each lap to hand touch at the end of each lap was also
manually measured. To ensure that the measured velocity
corresponded to the velocity of the center of mass, the
reaching height of the swimmer was subtracted from the
length of each lap. Swimming velocity was calculated as
the product of pool length minus reaching height divided
on time in seconds (ms-1). During the VO2peak
measurement the pace-lights regulated the swimming
velocity stepwise for the first 200m to 350m of the measurement, and the subject then further increased swimming
velocity stepwise per 50m on their own initiative. The
swimmers were instructed to push themselves as hard as
they could for as long as they could towards the end of the
VO2peakmeasurement.

Strength and endurance in swimmers

360

All parameters related to intensity of swimming are

proportional to velocity in the power of three (v3) as described by Kjendlie et al. (2004b). The v3 values were
calculated and a regression line between VO2 v3, R v3
and VE v3 were established for each subject. The values
were entered into a scatter plot and the linear best fit line
and appurtenant formula was calculated with Microsoft
Office Excel 2003 for every participant. These formulas
were used to calculate the energy cost of swimming at 1.1
ms-1 for every subject as this represents a feasible training velocity to all participants. R2values were calculated
for describing the gathering of the values around the regression line.
To ensure true HRmax was found during the
VO2peaktest, an additional protocol of 2 300m maximal
front crawl swimming after 20-40 minutes of warm up
was conducted measuring the heart rate at the end of each
300m. HRmax was considered the highest heart rate after
the 300 meters.
The variables further analysed were swimming
economy, VO2peak with appurtenant ventilation, respiratory quotient and velocity, and the highest measured
HRmax.

mal peak force in front crawl swimming. A high reliability of this system has been reported (Kjendlie and Thorsvald 2006).
Maximal strength in bilateral shoulder extension
(FL) was measured in a Technogym cable cross over apparatus (Technogym, Gambettola, Italy) from a starting
position of 170 10 shoulder flexion. During testing,
subjects were not allowed to decrease the angle of the
elbow joint below 90, jerk the body backwards before the
shoulder extension, reduce the angle in the hip joint below
170 or drop the elbow below the line between the shoulder joint and the wrist of the hand. All precautions were
made to make the strength test as swim like as possible.
Before the test the subjects were allowed a whole body
warm up of 10-15 minutes on a treadmill or an ergometer
cycle and a specific warm up with easier resistance in the
apparatus with technical supervision. The test started at a
resistance the subjects could easily carry out using a
proper technique, and the load was increased by 2.5 kg at
each attempt until failure. A maximal FL measurement
was considered when subject could not fulfil an increased
resistance in three attempts under given technical demands.

Kinematical parameters
Stroke length, stroke rate and maximal velocity (vmax)
were measured during 25 meter in water sprints. At least
three maximal swims were recorded and the values of
stroke length, stroke rate and vmax were extracted from the
fastest of them. The rest period was minimum 2 minutes
and the next bout started at the subjects free will. The
vmax value was calculated from the mean velocity of the
stroke cycles from 12.5m to 25m except the last cycle in a
25m of maximal front crawl swimming. Variables were
measured by a calibrated 100 Hz speedometer with a
coefficient of variation of less than 2% (Pedersen and
Kjendlie 2006). The speedometer was connected to a
computer and attached to the swimmer with a line spun
around a wheel (circumference was 0.09m) specially
turned to prevent toss. The wheel was connected to an
incremental encoder (nr. IS630, Leine & Linde, Strngnes, Sweden), and connected to a digital encoding unit
(DAQ 6024E data card, National Instruments, USA). The
system was programmed by digital acquisition software
(LabVIEW 7), and the signal was treated in MatLab (The
MathWorks Inc., USA). At each stroke of the right hand a
mark was registered for the software to calculate stroke
length and stroke rate.

Statistical procedures
Mean and standard deviation were used for presentation
of the findings. Since the control group included only two
male subjects, data are presented and compared between
whole groups and female part of the groups. All differences between the groups were calculated by a MannWhitney U test, and within group differences between pre
and post test were calculated by a Wilcoxon matchedpairs signed-ranks test. Correlations were calculated by a
Spearman rank-difference correlation. All calculations
were performed using SPSS 13.0 for Windows. The level
of significance was p 0.05.

Force and strength parameters

Maximal swimming force was attained from tethered
maximal front crawl swimming until fatigue. Swimmers
were allowed three attempts and the highest value was
used. The rest period was minimum 2 minutes and the
next bout started at the subjects free will.
A belt was attached to the waist of the swimmer
and a rubber tube at the other end. The rubber tube was
attached to a 100 Hz load cell (model TS C2, AEP,
Modena, Italy) connected to a Digital Force Indicator
display (AEP, Modena, Italy) which was also fastened to
a pole on the pool deck in a horizontal position. A peakhold function of the load cell was used to find the maxi-

Bioenergetical parameters
There were no significant changes in swimming economy
(p = 0.13 for the intervention group and 0.74 for the control group) or swimming economy scaled for body weight
(p = 0.11 for intervention group and 0.68 for control
group). There were no significant changes in VO2peak or
VO2peak scaled for body weight for any group and the p >
0.60 in all groups. See Table 3 for further results. R2 from
the slope in the VO2 v3 used for calculating swimming
economy showed a mean of 0.95 and 0.97 for the whole
intervention group at pre and post test, respectively. Mean
R2 for the whole control group was 0.94 and 0.88 at pre
and post test, respectively.

Results
Swimming performance
The 400m performance improved significantly (p < 0.05)
in the intervention group, with no changes for the control
group. The 50m (p = 0.11) and 100m (p = 0.12) performances did not significantly improve. Results are in Table
2. There was no significant difference between the swimming performance and the personal best records of the
different groups.

Aspenes et al.

361

Table 2. Swimming force, dry land strength, swimming performance times, maximal velocity, stroke length and
stroke rate. All data are presented as mean (standard deviation).
Intervention group
Control group
All (n = 11)
Female (n = 5)
All (n = 9)
Female (n = 7)
124.9 (23.2)
109.8 (6.9)
114.4 (17.3)
107.0 (4.7)
Pre
FS (N)
133.5 (21.9)**
117.8 (6.7)*
118.1 (18.3)
109.3 (3.4)
Post
318.8 (89.8)
260.0 (32.9)
277.9 (44.2)
262.8 (36.7)
Pre
FL (N)
383.5 (89.3)**
323.7 (32.0)*
310.7 (56.2)*
287.3 (33.8)*
Post
28.88 (2.00)
30.51 (1.43)
29.35 (1.72)
29.87 (1.48)
Pre
50m (s)
28.55 (1.80)
29.93 (1.40)
29.16 (1.76)
29.83 (1.35)
Post
63.00 (4.12)
66.52 (2.95)
64.08 (4.18)
65.43 (3.50)
Pre
100m (s)
62.05 (3.82)
64.75 (3.42)
64.06 (4.80)
65.78 (3.87)
Post
290.43 (16.26)
301.83 (15.02)
290.08 (16.20)
294.70 (14.88)
Pre
400m (s)
286.43 (16.64)*
298.09 (17.56)
290.40 (18.24)
296.62 (15.50)
Post
1.59 (.11)10
1.50 (.09)
1.53 (.08)7
1.50 (.06)5
Pre
-1
vmax (ms )
1.60 (.10)10
1.53 (.06)
1.56 (.07)7
1.53 (.03)5
Post
10
7
1.68 (.17)
1.61 (.11)
1.74 (.13)
1.78 (.10)5
Pre
SL (m)
10
7
1.73 (.16)
1.65 (.14)
1.80 (.15)
1.80 (.18)5
Post
.953 (.090)10
.936 (.086)
.885 (.078)7
.846 (.036)5
Pre
SR (Hz)
10
7
.930 (.074)
.929 (.074)
.872 (.078)
.858 (.090)5
Post
FS: Maximal swimming force, N: Newton, FL: 1RM land strength, 50m: 50m maximal front crawl swimming, m: meters, s: seconds, 100m: 100m maximal front crawl swimming, 400m: 400m maximal front crawl swimming, vmax: Maximal swimming velocity, 10: Include 10 subjects, 7: Include 7 subjects, 5: Include 5 subjects, SL: Stroke length, SR: Stroke rate, rpm: repetitions per minute (in this context stroke-cycles per minute). * Significant change in group at p < 0.05. ** Significant change in group at p < 0.01.
Significant difference between intervention group and control group at p < 0.05.

Kinematical parameters
There was no change of any kinematical parameter (Table
2).
Force and strength parameters
A significant improvement of tethered swimming force in
both the female intervention group (p < 0.05) and the
whole intervention group (p < 0.05) was found (Table 2).
No change was observed in the control group. In addition,
tethered swimming force was significantly higher in the
intervention group than in control group at post test (p <
0.05). FL improved in all groups, but was at post test significantly higher in the whole intervention group.
Relationships between parameters
There was a strong correlation between the change in the

400m performance and the change in tethered swimming

force (rs = -0.975, p < 0.01) for the female intervention
group.
There were no differences between groups with regard to swimming distance covered in the training period
(Table 4). 86% of the endurance intervention and 76% of
the strength intervention was accomplished in the intervention group. This equals an average of 2.0 interval
trainings and 1.8 strength trainings each week. There were
no correlations between training volume or accomplishment of intervention and improved performances.

Discussion
We hypothesized that a combined intervention of strength
and endurance training would improve swimming force,

Table 3. Work economy, peak oxygen uptake in swimming and maximal heart rate. All data are presented as mean (standard deviation).
Intervention group
Control group
All (n = 11)
Female (n = 5)
All (n = 9)
Female (n = 7)
Cs at 1.1 ms-1
43.9 (6.3)
39.7 (4.1)
38.4 (8.9)
35.2 (7.1)
Pre
(mLm-1)
42.7 (6.6)
38.3 (3.5)
39.1 (6.3)
36.8 (5.1)
Post
Cs at 1.1 ms-1
0.75 (.09)
.74 (0.11)
.66 (.13)
.63 (.13)
Pre
(mL -1kg-1)
0.72 (.06)
.72 (0.08)
.66 (.12)
.65 (.14)
Post
VO2peak
3.26 (.64)
2.80 (0.20)
3.03 (.39)
2.87 (.15)
Pre
(Lmin-1)
3.28 (.69)
2.75 (0.30)
2.97 (.46)
2.77 (.16)
Post
VO2peak
55.2 (4.6)
52.2 (3.8)
52.2 (5.0)
51.5 (5.3)
Pre
(mLkg-1min-1)
55.0 (5.8)
51.5 (6.6)
50.0 (6.2)
48.7 (6.4)
Post
VE
97.4 (18.2)
86.2 (5.0)
94.2 (11.7)
90.3 (6.7)
Pre
(Lmin-1)
105.5 (19.7)**
92.3 (10.3)
91.9 (16.8)
85.7 (10.9)
Post
1.14 (.06)
1.14 (.04)
1.07 (.07)
1.04 (.03)
Pre
R
1.13 (.09)
1.10 (.08)
1.03 (.09)*
1.00 (.02)*
Post
vVO2peak
1.31 (.08)
1.28 (.08)
1.28 (.11)
1.27 (.10)
Pre
(ms-1)
1.32 (.07)
1.28 (.07)
1.29 (.12)
1.26 (.11)
Post
HRmax (beatsmin-1)
194 (7)
195 (5)
186 (5)
188 (5)
Cs: Cost of swimming, ms-1: meters per second, mLm-1: millilitres per meter, VO2peakS: Peak oxygen uptake in swimming, Lmin-1: liters
per minute, VE: Pulmonary ventilation, R: Respiratory exchange ratio, vVO2peak: velocity during VO2peak measurement, HRmax: maximal
heart rate during swimming, min: minute. * Significant change in group at p < 0.05. ** Significant change in group at p < 0.01. Significant difference between intervention group and control group at p < 0.05. Significant difference between intervention group and control group at p < 0.01.

Strength and endurance in swimmers

362

Training volume
(meters
1000)

Table 4. Compliance of intervention and training diary. All data are presented as mean (standard deviation).
Intervention group
Control group
All (n = 11)
Female (n = 5)
All (n = 9)
Female (n = 7)
76 (9)
79 (9)
Compliance of strength (%)
86 (8)
90 (4)
Compliance of endurance (%)
256.2 (40.7)
258.4 (40.9)
244.0 (52.0)7
227.8 (51.7)5
In total
7
122.4 (47.0)
104.8 (51.1)
122.2 (75.9)
120.2 (53.3)5
60-85% of HRmax
7
90.0 (23.3)
99.2 (9.2)
49.2 (39.7)
57.1 (44.8)5
85-95% of HRmax
27.0 (14.7)
36.8 (13.2)
16.7 (9.7)7
15.9 (9.6)5
>95% of HRmax
9
7
961 (709)
995 (600)
1092 (636)
1144 (686)4
Alternative training (min)
7

include 7 subjects, 5 include 5 subjects, HRmax: maximal heart rate, 9 include 9 subjects, 4 include 4 subjects, min: minutes. Significant
difference between groups at p < 0.05.

maximal velocity, swimming economy, maximal oxygen

uptake and swimming performance. The results show that
both the whole and the female intervention group improved significantly in tethered swimming force (6.9%
and 7.3% in whole and female, respectively), while no
change occurred in the control group. All groups improved FL, but the whole intervention group gained statistically higher values than the control group at post test (p
< 0.05). No significant change occurred in swimming
economy or VO2peak in any group.
As an improvement of strength due to strength
training is consolidated, the improvement of dry-land
strength occurred as expected in the intervention group
(20.3% and 24.5% in whole and female, respectively). It
is however surprising that the control group also improved land force significantly (11.8% and 9.3% in whole
and female, respectively). There seem to be two liable
explanations for this. The control group subjects might
have been technically familiarized with the method from
pre- to post-test, and/or the improvement is a response to
the swimming or dry-land training they have brought out
in the intervention period. The whole control group increased weight (Table 1) but not height (data not presented) which might have been a response to increased
muscle mass and thus increased strength. A change of
body composition was however not measured. The significantly higher post-test of the intervention group
showed that an improvement from the strength intervention had occurred. The improvement of tethered swimming force was as expected, and in line with the study by
Girold et al (2007).
The strong correlation between the improvement of
the 400m freestyle performance time and the improvement of tethered swimming force in the female intervention group (rs = -0.975, p < 0.01) indicate that strength
training seems important also for endurance performance
in swimming. This indication is pointed out although the
female intervention group did not significantly improve
the 400m freestyle performance (p = 0.20) and the indication is thus built on incomplete evidence. However, leaning upon the results of Balabinis et al (Balabinis et al.
2003) and Hoff et al. (2002b) our findings seem legitimate and the lack of consistency could probably be due to
a low number of participants. Glancing at the findings in
the light of clinical significance, any coach would appreciate an average improvement of 3.74 seconds in 400m
freestyle. A possible explanation for the lack of correlation between strength and performance improvements is
that the whole intervention group might have experienced
a clustering when both genders were included. The males

improved relatively little in land strength but much in

swimming and the females vice versa. However, our
findings should be investigated further to develop a
clearer picture of the correlation between strength and
swimming performance.
Previous studies have shown that muscle force capabilities such as stroke force during swimming (Hawley
and Williams 1991), biokinetic stroke power on a swim
bench (Sharp et al. 1982) and Wingate anaerobic arm test
(Toussaint and Vervoorn 1990) correlates more strongly
with sprint performances than 400m performance and that
strength training improves swimming performance
(Girold et al. 2006; 2007). Improvements of 50m (p =
0.11) or 100m (p = 0.13) performance or both might have
been expected. Although the groups were small and the pvalues were low, our findings were not statistically significant. The lack of improvement in vmax, 50m or 100m
performance might be observed in relation to the lack of
improvements in stroke length and stroke rate which have
previously been reported to improve simultaneously
(Toussaint and Vervoorn 1990). It may therefore be suggested that strength training should be followed up in
parallel with technical training to improve technical performance, and to facilitate transfer of land strength gains.
It should be mentioned that one subject from the
intervention group performed a 0.76 seconds faster 50m
within the intervention period and another 0.51 second
faster five days after the post tests than their post test
performances. If these best times were used in the statistics, the improvement would also be significant (p < 0.05)
for the 50m. As the 400m is of a lower velocity, the impact of a missed turn, a slow start, etc. will not affect the
final time to such an extent as in the shorter events. Thus,
it can be hypothesized that an increased number of participants might have improved our chance of finding
significant improvements. And again, the importance of
looking at the clinical significance is underlined. It could
be questioned whether the swimming performance tests
were representative for their optimal performance level
when mainly choosing to measure it outside competition.
As there was no statistical difference between performance level and personal best times, we believe the performance times are reliable and valid for the groups.
The lack of improvement in swimming economy
might also be seen in relationship with the lack of change
in stroke rate and stroke length, although the p-value in
the whole intervention group might show a slight tendency toward significance for the swimming economy (p
= 0.13 and p = 0.11 scaled for body weight). It has been
shown that manipulation of stroke length or stroke rate

Aspenes et al.

may improve swimming economy (Barbosa et al. 2008).

Previous studies have observed improvements of work
economy in cross-country skiing (Hoff et al. 2002a;
sters et al. 2002) as a consequence of maximal strength
training, and these improvements have been explained by
neural adaptation. Although a favourable neural adaptation might have occurred in the actual muscles and muscle groups in this study as subjects were stronger without
increasing body weight, there would subsequently be a
need for the subject to transfer these capacities into improved stroke length or stroke rate or both (Wakayoshi et
al. 1995), and no changes of these parameters were observed. It would be interesting to investigate the nature of
these improvements. An electromyographic investigation
has successfully been applied to swimming before
(Rouard et al. 1990), and a similar method could possibly
unravel some of the improvements we have observed.
Despite the somewhat large improvements of
VO2max found in other studies employing a similar endurance interval training intervention (Helgerud et al. 2007;
Hoff et al. 2002b) no improvement of VO2peak was observed. One of the plausible explanations for this is regarding the method of the VO2peak-measurements. There
are different methods for measuring oxygen uptake kinetics during swimming but when comparing these it still
remains unclear which is the better (Rinehardt et al.
1991). This challenge may be one of the reasons why very
few studies have been published on the development of
VO2max in swimming. The setup used to measure VO2peak
has been described earlier (Kjendlie et al. 2004a; 2003),
but instead of Douglas bags for sampling of gas, a Cortex
MetaMaxII-analyzer was used. Although the Douglasbag-method remains the gold standard for testing of oxygen uptake kinetics, the Cortex MetaMaxII-analyzer has
been found valid although it is reported to overestimate
VO2 by 4% (Medb et al. 2002), and allows for continuous surveillance of the oxygen uptake kinetics which
necessarily requires a breathing valve. The arguments
against the use of methods involving a breathing valve are
that it is uncomfortable, time-consuming ant that it may
affect VO2max (Montpetit et al. 1981). However, the
breathing valve has been found not to cause any alterations in swimming technique (Kjendlie et al. 2003). Thus,
every effort was made to ensure a reliable measurement,
although we recognize that there still are challenges
within the measuring of oxygen uptake kinetics in swimming. In support of our method, the same procedure was
performed at pre- and post-test, and neither group
changed in VO2peak or velocity at VO2peak.
Another more likely explanation is that an average
of two interval-sessions a week is an insufficient stimulus
to produce detectable training adaptations in competitive
swimmers. The already mentioned former intervention
studies of 8 weeks (Helgerud et al. 2007; Hoff et al.
2002b) gave 7.2% and 10.8% improvements of VO2max in
male junior soccer-players at pre-season and young male
adults of average training level. However, our intervention group was different from those of these studies. The
groups consisted of competitive swimmers with already
very high training volumes and in the middle of the competitive season. The composition regarding gender differences and age was a result of few adequately skilled

363

swimmers in the area to recruit from, and subsequently

withdrawals resulting in a control group with only two
male participants. The tendency towards heterogeneity of
the intervention and control group is one of the weaknesses of this study. However, there were no significant
differences between groups at baseline regarding age or
anthropometrics, freestyle is commonly the most applied
stroke during swimming practice disregarding specialty
and the only modification of regular practice was the
training interventions. Further a larger part of the control
group consisted of freestyle specialists and the seemingly
(but unsignificant) homogenously younger control group
will traditionally be more susceptible to exercise. Thus,
the presented within and between group changes is considered to be strongly related to the intervention.
A third explanation might lie in the participants
conformity with the prescribed training intervention.
Although the intention of the interval training sessions
was thoroughly explained to the intervention subjects and
heart rates surveillanced, there was a possibility that the
participants did not keep within the desired heart rate
zone at all times as subscribed. This might have reduced
the potential effect of the interventions.
Due to illness we could unfortunately not assess
swimming time trials for all participants at the same
times, but carried out the other tests. This is unlikely to
have compromised the short-time measurements such as
tethered swimming force, land force, vmax, stroke length
or stroke rate rate as these do not stress the energydemanding oxygen transport system, but might have
blunted the oxygen uptake measurements, especially
VO2peak. The high training volume of the included swimmers and the study being carried out in the middle of the
season are both considered strengths of this study. As
special attention was paid to the intervention group, a
Hawthorne-effect might have occurred. The phenomenon
is explained as a short-term improvement caused by
observing worker performance (Wickstrm and Bendix
2000). However, the study duration of 11 weeks is
considered more than short-term, and the effects are thus
considered unlikely to influence our findings.
In summary, it is adjacent to believe that the lack
of improvement in VO2peak is related to a combination of
merely two weekly aerobic interval sessions, swimmers
already being at a high aerobic level and training volume,
and maybe the swimmers heart rate consistency as
described. Few qualified and available subjects made it
difficult to make more than two groups, and physiological
and pragmatic considerations suggested it possible and
desirable to combine the interventions and still being able
to separate the hypothetical findings. In the light of
hindsight, maybe we should have applied only one
intervention for a cleaner result. But on the other side, our
study supplies information on the combination of
interventions not available before. Future studies should
look further into the mechanisms of the improvements of
strength training and try to find methods to impose the
increased swimming force on improved swimming biomechanics.
There seem to be benefits from maximal strength
training, and two weekly sessions seems to be sufficient
to increase strength and positively influence swimming
performance. Although VO2peak did not change, there are

364

no indications that strength training has influenced endurance performance negatively. Rather the opposite as an
improvement of 400m freestyle could be explained by
increased tethered swimming force. In support of this
conclusion Gullstrand and Holmr (1983) concluded that
VO2max in high performance swimmers is of less importance than other physiological factors, for example
swimming force. To illuminate this matter further, a study
on the strengths of correlations of well-known parameters
affecting swimming performance should be brought out.

Conclusion
Two weekly sessions of maximal strength training is
sufficient to improve maximal tethered swimming force
in front crawl swimming. Improved tethered swimming
force was correlated with improved 400m freestyle and it
is thus concluded that strength training might be
important for improving middle distance swimming.
Adding two weekly sessions of high-intensity
interval training to a high volume training situation was
not enough to improve VO2peak in swimming.
Acknowledgements
We thank Sr-Trndelag Swimming District for financial
support, and to Heimdal High School and Rune Heen for
providing time, access and patience during the intervention. We
appreciate the help of Kristian Thorsvald in datacollection.

References
Balabinis, C.P., Psarakis, C.H., Moukas, M., Vassiliou, M.P. and
Behrakis, P.K. (2003) Early phase changes by concurrent
endurance and strength training. Journal of Strength and
Conditioning Research 17, 393-401.
Barbosa, T.M., Fernandes, R.J., Keskinen, K.L. and Vilas-Boas, J.P.
(2008) The influence of stroke mechanics into energy cost of
elite swimmers. European Journal of Applied Physiology 103,
139-149.
Barzdukas, A., Franciosi, P., Trappe, S., Letner, C. and Troup, J.P.
(1992) Adaptations to interval training at common intensities
and different work: Rest ratios. In: Biomechanics and Medicine
in Swimming VI. Eds: Maclaren, D., Reilly, T. & Lees, A.
Cambridge, E & FN Spon. 189-194.
Costill, D.L., Flynn, M.G., Kirwan, J.P., Houmard, J.A., Mitchell, J.B.,
Thomas, R. and Park, S.H. (1988) Effects of repeated days of
intensified training on muscle glycogen and swimming
performance. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise 20,
249-254.
Costill, D.L., Thomas, R., Robergs, R.A., Pascoe, D., Lambert, C., Barr,
S. and Fink, W.J. (1991) Adaptations to swimming training:
Influence of training volume. Medicine and Science in Sports
and Exercise 23, 371-377.
D'Acquisto, L.J., Barzdukas, A., Dursthoff, P., Letner, C. and Troup,
J.P. (1992) Physiological adaptations to 60 vs 20 minutes of
swim training at 76% VO2max. In: Biomechanics and Medicine
in Swimming VI. Eds: Maclaren, D., Reilly, T. & Lees, A.
Cambridge, E & FN Spon. 195-199.
Faude, O., Meyer, T., Scharhag, J., Weins, F., Urhausen, A. and
Kindermann, W. (2008) Volume vs. intensity in the training of
competitive swimmers. International Journal of Sports
Medicine 29, 906-912.
Gergley, T.J., McArdle, W.D., DeJesus, P., Toner, M.M., Jacobowitz, S.
and Spina, R.J. (1984) Specificity of arm training on aerobic
power during swimming and running. Medicine and Science in
Sports and Exercise 16, 349-354.
Girold, S., Calmels, P., Maurin, D., Milhau, N. and Chatard, J.C. (2006)
Assisted and resisted sprint training in swimming. Journal of
Strength and Conditioning Research 20, 547-554.

Strength and endurance in swimmers

Girold, S., Maurin, D., Dugue, B., Chatard, J.C. and Millet, G. (2007)
Effects of dry-land vs. Resisted- and assisted-sprint exercises on
swimming sprint performances. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research 21, 599-605.
Gullstrand, L. and Holmr, I. (1983) Physiological characteristics of
champion swimmers during a five-year follow-up period. In:
Biomechanics and Medicine in Swimming IV. Eds: Hollander,
A.P., Huijing, P.A. and De Groot, G. Champaign, Illinois,
Human Kinetics Publishers. 203-208.
Hawley, J.A. and Williams, M.M. (1991) Relationship between upper
body anaerobic power and freestyle swimming performance.
International Journal of Sports Medicine 12, 1-5.
Helgerud, J., Hydal, K., Wang, E., Karlsen, T., Berg, P., Bjerkaas, M.,
Simonsen, T., Helgesen, C., Hjorth, N., Bach, R. and Hoff, J.
(2007) Aerobic high-intensity intervals improve VO2max more
than moderate training. Medicine and Science in Sports and
Exercise 39, 665-671.
Hoff, J., Gran, A. and Helgerud, J. (2002a) Maximal strength training
improves aerobic endurance performance. Scandinavian
Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports 12, 288-295.
Hoff, J., Wislff, U., Engen, L.C., Kemi, O.J. and Helgerud, J. (2002b)
Soccer specific aerobic endurance training. British Journal of
Sports Medicine 36, 218-221.
Houston, M.E., Wilson, D.M., Green, H.J., Thomson, J.A. and Ranney,
D.A. (1981) Physiological and muscle enzyme adaptations to
two different intensities of swim training. European Journal of
Applied Physiology and Occupational Physiology 46, 283-291.
Kirwan, J.P., Costill, D.L., Flynn, M.G., Mitchell, J.B., Fink, W.J.,
Neufer, P.D. and Houmard, J.A. (1988) Physiological responses
to successive days of intense training in competitive swimmers.
Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise 20, 255-259.
Kjendlie, P.L., Ingjer, F., Madsen, ., Stallman, R.K. and StrayGundersen, J. (2004a) Differences in the energy cost between
children and adults during front crawl swimming. European
Journal of Applied Physiology 91, 473-480.
Kjendlie, P.L., Ingjer, F., Stallman, R.K. and Stray-Gundersen, J.
(2004b) Factors affecting swimming economy in children and
adults. European Journal of Applied Physiology 93, 65-74.
Kjendlie, P.L., Stallman, R.K. and Stray-Gundersen, J. (2003)
Influences of a breathing valve on swimming technique. In:
Biomechanics and Medicine in Swimming IX. Ed: Chatard, J. C.
Saint-Etienne, University of Saint-Etienne. 69-73.
Kjendlie, P.L. and Thorsvald, K. (2006) A tethered swimming power
test is highly reliable. Portuguese Journal of Sports Science
6(supl 1), 91-92.
Konstantaki, M., Winter, E.M. and Swaine, I.L. (1999) The effects of
arms- or legs-only training on indices of swimming
performance and dry-land endurance in swimmers. In:
Biomechanics and Medicine in Swimming VIII. Eds: Keskinen,
K. L., Komi, P. V. and Hollander, A.P. Jyvskyl, University of
Jyvskyl. 391-395.
Magel, J.R. and Faulkner, J.A. (1967) Maximum oxygen uptakes of
college swimmers. Journal of Applied Physiology 22, 929-933.
Magel, J.R., Foglia, G.F., McArdle, W.D., Gutin, B., Pechar, G.S. and
Katch, F.I. (1975) Specificity of swim training on maximum
oxygen uptake. Journal of Applied Physiology 38, 151-155.
Medb, J.I., Mamen, A., Welde, B., von Heimburg, E. and Stokke, R.
(2002) Examination of the metamax i and ii oxygen analysers
during exercise studies in the laboratory. Scandinavian Journal
of Clinical and Laboratory Investigation 62, 585-598.
Miyashita, M. and Kanehisa, H. (1983) Effects of isokinetic, isotonic
and swim training on swimming performance. In: Biomechanics
and Medicine in Swimming IV. Eds: Hollander, A. P., Huijing,
P.A. & De Groot, G. Champaign, Illinois, Human Kinetics
Publishers. 329-334.
Montpetit, R.R., Leger, L.A., Lavoie, J.M. and Cazorla, G. (1981) VO2
peak during free swimming using the backward extrapolation of
the O2 recovery curve. European Journal of Applied Physiology
and Occupational Physiology 47, 385-391.
O'Toole, M. (2000) Endurance training for women. In: Endurance in
sport. Eds: Shephard, R.J. and strand, P.O. Second edition.
Cornwall, Blackwell Science. 517-530.
Pate, R.R. and Kriska, A. (1984) Physiological basis of the sex difference in cardiorespiratory endurance. Sports Medicine 1, 87-98.

Aspenes et al.

Pedersen, T. and Kjendlie, P.L. (2006) The effect of the breathing action
on velocity in front crawl sprinting. Portuguese Journal of Sport
Science 6(supl 2), 75-77.
Petersen, S.R., Miller, G.D., Wenger, H.A. and Quinney, H.A. (1984)
The acquisition of muscular strength: The influence of training
velocity and initial vo2 max. Canadian Journal of Applied Sport
Sciences 9, 176-180.
Rinehardt, K.F., Kraemer, R.R., Gormely, S. and Colan, S. (1991)
Comparison of maximal oxygen uptakes from the tethered, the
183- and 457-meter unimpeded supramaximal freestyle swims.
International Journal of Sports Medicine 12, 6-9.
Rouard, A.H., Quezel, G. and Billat, R.P. (1990) Effects of speed on
emg and kinematic parameters in freestyle. In: Biomechanics
and Medicine in Swimming VI. Eds: Maclaren, D., Reilly, T.
and Lees, A. E & FN Spon. 93-97.
Rouard, A.H., Quezel, G. and Billat, R.P. (1992) Effects of speed on
emg and kinematic parameters in freestyle. In: Biomechanics
and Medicine in Swimming VI. Eds: Maclaren, D., Reilly, T.
and Lees, A. Cambridge, E & FN Spon. 93-97.
Sale, D.G. (2003) Neural adaptation to strength training. In: Strength
and power in sport. Ed: Komi, P. V. Second edition. Oxford,
Blackwell Publishing. 281-314.
Sharp, R.L., Troup, J.P. and Costill, D.L. (1982) Relationship between
power and sprint freestyle swimming. Medicine and Science in
Sports and Exercise 14, 53-56.
Silva, A.J., Costa, A.M., Oliveira, P.M., Reis, V.M., Saavedra, J., Perl,
J., Rouboa, A. and Marinho, D.A. (2007) The use of network
technology to model swimming performance. Journal of Sports
Science and Medicine 6, 117-125.
Tanaka, H., Costill, D., Thomas, R., Fink, W.J. and Widrick, J.J. (1998)
Impact of resistance training on endurance performance. A new
form of cross-training? Sports Medicine 25, 191-200.
Tanaka, H., Costill, D.L., Thomas, R., Fink, W.J. and Widrick, J.J.
(1993) Dry-land resistance training for competitive swimming.
Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise 25, 952-959.
Toussaint, H.M., Meulemans, A., de Groot, G., Hollander, A.P.,
Schreurs, A.W. and Vervoorn, K. (1987) Respiratory valve for
oxygen uptake measurements during swimming. European
Journal of Applied Physiology and Occupational Physiology 56,
363-366.
Toussaint, H.M. and Vervoorn, K. (1990) Effects of specific high resistance training in the water on competitive swimmers. International Journal of Sports Medicine 11, 228-233.
Trappe, S. and Pearson D.R. (1994) Effects of weigth assisted dry-land
strength training on swimming performance. Journal of
Strength and Conditioning Research 8, 209-213.
Wakayoshi, K., D'Acquisto, L.J., Cappaert, J.M. and Troup, J.P. (1995)
Relationship between oxygen uptake, stroke rate and swimming
velocity in competitive swimming. International Journal of
Sports Medicine 16, 19-23.
Wickstrm, G. and Bendix, T. (2000) The "Hawthorne effect"--what did
the original hawthorne studies actually show? Scandinavian
Journal of Work, Environment and Health 26, 363-367.
Yamamoto, L.M., Lopez, R.M., Klau, J.F., Casa, D.J., Kraemer, W.J.
and Maresh, C.M. (2008) The effects of resistance training on
endurance distance running performance among highly trained
runners: A systematic review. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research 22, 2036-2044.
sters, H., Helgerud, J. and Hoff, J. (2002) Maximal strength-training
effects on force-velocity and force-power relationships explain
increases in aerobic performance in humans. European Journal
of Applied Physiology 88, 255-263.
strand, P.O., Rodahl, K., Dahl, H.A. and Strmme, S.B. (2003) Textbook of work physiology, Champaign, Human Kinetics.

365

Key points
Two weekly sessions of dry land strength training
improves the swimming force.
Two weekly sessions of high-intensity endurance
training did not cause improved endurance capacity.
It may seem that dry land strength training can improve middle distance performance.
AUTHORS BIOGRAPHY
Stian ASPENES
Employment
PhD student
Degree
Master of Science
Research interests
Fitness in epidemiology, swimming performance, endurance training, female
soccer performance.
E-mail: [email protected]
Per-Ludvik KJENDLIE
Employment
Associate Professor
Degree
PhD
Research interests
Swimming research, work economy,
swimming biomechanics.
E-mail: [email protected]
Jan HOFF
Employment
Professor
Degree
PhD
Research interests
Strength training, endurance training,
COPD, soccer physiology.
E-mail: [email protected]
Jan HELGERUD
Employment
Professor
Degree
PhD
Research interests
Exercise physiology. Skeletal muscle blood
flow and metabolism. Pulmonary gas
exchange. Applied sport physiology.
E-mail: [email protected]
Stian Aspenes
Department of Circulation and Medical Imaging, Faculty of
Medicine, Norwegian University of Science and Technology,
MTFS, Olav Kyrresgate 9, N-7489 Trondheim, NORWAY

Copyright of Journal of Sports Science & Medicine is the property of Hakan Gur, Journal of Sports Science &
Medicine and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the
copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for
individual use.