The effect of blood flow restriction training on swimming performance in swimmers

Practical blood flow restriction (pBFR) is the process of consciously reducing blood flow in the limb. In the literature, performance improvement has been shown with pBFR training. The aim of the study was to investigate the changes in performance parameters caused by the application of pBFR added to the warm-up part of the swimmers training programme for 8 weeks. 54 male master swimmers aged 36-51 years participated in the study. The participants were randomly divided into study (pBFR) and control groups consisting of 27 participants each. Age, height, weight, thigh skinfold thickness and thigh circumference measurements of the participants were taken; 50 m. freestyle, 100 m. freestyle swimming time and 12 min. Cooper swimming test performance measurements were made. Among the groups that applied the same training programme, the study group was subjected to pBFR for 20 minutes in the warm-up, an elastic band 10 cm wide was wrapped around the proximal part of both thighs, and the visual pain scale (VAS) score was applied at a pressure level of 7/10. SPSS 29 programme was used for statistical analysis, Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used within groups and Mann Whitney U test was used between groups (p < 0.05). The rate of change between pretest and posttest was calculated by the formula ∆ %= [(Pretest - Posttest)/Pretest] x 100. Cohen's d value (effect size: 1.0) was calculated as a result of the G-Power analysis performed with the study results and the power of the study was found to be 0.94. In the study, 50 m. foot pre-post (pBFR 72,26±18,58 - 70,38±17,01 sec.), (control 71,13±15,78 -70,45±15,19 sec.); 100 m. free pre-post (pBFR 73,89±6,59 -72,34±6,43 sec.), (control 77,31±7,87-76,47±6,87 sec.); Cooper pre-post (pBFR 537,96±69,11-558,33±74,67 m. ), (control 527,59±66,56-529,25±78,61 m.). pBFR group showed significant improvement in all three tests pre-test-post-test. 50 m. freestyle and Cooper pre-test-pre-test, post-test-post-test comparisons of pBFR and control groups did not show statistically significant difference. In 100 m. freestyle swimming, pre-test-pre-test showed no difference, post-test-post-test showed significant difference. As a result, pBFR, which was applied for 20 min. in warm-up at 7/10 level twice a week, significantly increased the 50 m. freestyle, Cooper and 100 m. freestyle of master swimmers within the group and compared to the control. We recommend the use of pBFR methods in swimming training. Key Words: Blood Flow Restriction (BFR), Swimming, Performance, Master Swimmer, Training