DRAG FORCE RELATED TO BODY DIMENSIONS IN BUTTERFLY SWIMMING

摘要

During four last decades, a great deal of attention has been given to the presupposed relationship between body dimensions and hydrodynamic resistance related drag for actively swimming subjects to anthropometrical variables. The development of a new indirect method of determining active drag (IMAD) warranted a reevaluation of this relationship, which was the aim of present study. Twenty female swimmers with different body shape and experience ranging from 13 to 19 years and in mass from 42 to 68 kg have volunteered in this study. They were requested to swim a 10-m distance as fast as they could and three trials with enough rest in between. They have also been instructed to glide at the end of 10-m swim, by whistling, until still position. The time of 10-m swim and the glide distance were measured with reasonable precision. The variables were mass, height, upper limit length, arm, forearm, hand lengths, and torso, arm, and head circumferences. Very high and significant correlations were found between active drag and anthropometric variables. The drag force for advanced swimmers was ranging from 26 to 36 N, while for other swimmers was ranging from 16 to 32 N. The results achieved from this study agreed well with the results obtained by other researchers using direct measurement systems.