Carla Mccabe

• BSc Sports and Exercise Science (University of Limerick, Ireland)
• Lecturer at University of Ulster

The study compares three methods of evaluating semi-tethered performance in front crawl swimming using different velocity extraction techniques. Thirty Level 4 swimmers (17 males, 13 females) completed three protocols: Absolute (5 × 25 m, 1-9 kg for males; 1-5 kg for females), Modified (3 × 10 m, 1, 5, 9 kg for males; 1, 3, 5 kg for females) and Ve...

Load-velocity (LV) profiling in swimming provides key metrics, including theoretical maximal velocity (V0) and theoretical maximal load (L0); however, longitudinal studies tracking these variables across competitive seasons are limited. This study investigated LV profiling and competition performance in national and international-level swimmers (Le...

Women remain under-represented in many sport settings, including as research participants. Additionally, there is often a lack of collective thinking and action across universities and the sport sector in research about women in sport, including on the island of Ireland. To support the strategic development of research within this region, we conduc...

Discussed is a comparison of computational and experimental evaluations of passive drag during human swimming. Experimentally, ten trials were conducted per athlete at five chosen velocities, using a commercial resistance trainer to record the tension force in a rope during a streamline position tow test. The resistive force recorded was assumed eq...

A novel method aimed at evaluating the active drag profile during front-crawl swimming is proposed. Fourteen full trials were conducted with each trial using a stationary load cell set-up and a commercial resistance trainer to record the tension force in a rope, caused by an athlete swimming. Seven different stroke cycles in each experiment were id...

Background: Despite an increase in the professionalism and participation of female cricket, the coaching of female pace bowling is still reliant on male-derived knowledge. Objectives: To investigate the association between key male-derived kinematic and anthropometric parameters and ball release speed (BRS) in female pace bowlers. Methods: Eleven...

Editorial on the Research Topic Physiological and biomechanical determinants of swimming performance-volume 2 The objective of this Research Topic was to develop and strengthen evidence of training and swimming performance to increase scientific knowledge in the area, considering that understanding the biomechanical, physiological, and neuromuscula...

Since the rule change permitting the inclusion of one dolphin kick during the underwater breaststroke pullout phase following a swim start or turn, there has been an emergence of several different pullout techniques adopted by elite swimmers. The aim of this study was to characterize the underwater breaststroke pullout technique trends and to asses...

Balance is the foundation upon which all other motor skills are built. Indeed, many neurological diseases and injuries often present clinically with deficits in balance control. With recent advances in virtual reality (VR) hardware bringing low-cost headsets into the mainstream market, the question remains as to whether this technology could be use...

The purpose of this study was to investigate differences in Froude efficiency (ηF) and active drag (DA) between front crawl and backstroke at the same speed. ηF was investigated by the three-dimensional (3D) motion analysis using 10 male swimmers. The swimmers performed 50 m swims at four swimming speeds in each technique, and their whole body moti...

The aim of this study was to determine the influence of torso morphology on maximum instantaneous hydrodynamic resistance in front crawl swimming. Outlines of the torso in the frontal and anteroposterior planes were calculated from photographic images to determine continuous form gradients (m/m) for the anterior, posterior and lateral aspects of th...

Musculoskeletal injuries often occur during the execution of dynamic sporting tasks that involve rotation. The prescription of appropriate prevention strategies of musculoskeletal injury relies on assessments to identify risk, but current assessment tools focus on uniplanar movements. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the utility of the u...

Dry-land strength training is a common component of swimming programs; however, its efficacy is contentious. A common criticism of dry-land strength training for swimming is a lack of specificity. An understanding of movement patterns in swimming can enable dry-land strength training programs to be developed to elicit adaptations that transfer to i...

Before examining the effect of changing constraints on skill adaptation, it is useful to know the tolerable variability of a movement pattern for optimal performance. Tolerable variability may vary throughout the period of task performance as some parts of the movement pattern may be more important than others. The purpose of this study was to quan...

Torso shape characteristics such as cross-sectional area, curvatures and indentations influence the pressure distribution of fluid flow around the torso. The purpose of this study was to introduce a new method of quantifying torso shape using photographic imaging. The contours of the torso in the frontal and sagittal planes were obtained by tracing...

Active drag force is the resistance encountered by a swimmer while swimming with the usual stroking and kicking actions. Active drag has been found to have a relationship with body shape characteristics such as the projected frontal area of a swimmer (1). However, commonly used methods of estimating active drag force impose changes to the regular s...

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether swimmers follow the instructed speed (vtarget) accurately with the aid of a commercial visual light pacer during front crawl and backstroke swimming in a 25 m pool. Ten male swimmers performed 50 m front crawl and backstroke at different speeds (controlled by a visual light pacer) in a 25 m pool....

To improve understanding of the demands on torso muscles in front crawl swimming, coaches would benefit from a quantification of the torque about the longitudinal axis between the upper and lower body produced by swimming motions and fluid forces; however, due to the inability of measuring external torque in a fluid environment, internal torque can...

The contribution of the flutter kick to front crawl performance from its influence on longitudinal body rotation has not been thoroughly investigated. Fourier analysis was used to examine the impact of the kick on segmental and whole body angular momentum about the body’s longitudinal axis in fourteen elite front crawl specialists swimming at sprin...

Purpose The purpose of this study was to determine kinematic and energetic differences between front crawl and backstroke performed at the same aerobic speeds. Methods Ten male competitive swimmers performed front crawl and backstroke at a pre-determined sub-anaerobic threshold speed to assess energy cost (through oxygen uptake measurement) and ki...

The purpose of this study was to determine any biomechanical differences between a forward and backward drop landing. Overall this study reported that landing in one direction was not inherently safer than the other direction. Gymnasts utilised different strategies dependent on the landing direction which may have strength and conditioning implicat...

The purpose of this study was to identify the characteristics of maximum shoulder and hip roll angles in back crawl at different swimming speeds. Ten male elite swimmers performed back crawl at four different swimming speeds. The swimming trials were filmed by a total of six digital video cameras and three-dimensional coordinates of swimmer's anato...

The optimisation of undulatory underwater swimming is highly important in competitive swimming performance. Nineteen kinematic variables were identified from previous research undertaken to assess undulatory underwater swimming performance. The purpose of the present study was to determine which kinematic variables were key to the production of max...

The purpose of this study was to explore the reliability of esti-mating three-dimensional (3D) angular kinematics and kinetics of a swimmer derived from digitized video. Two high-level front crawl swimmers and one high level backstroke swimmer were recorded by four underwater and two above water video cameras. One of the front crawl swimmers was di...

The purpose of this study was to determine whether the breathing action in front crawl (FC) sprint swimming affects the ipsilateral upper limb kinematics relative to a non-breathing stroke cycle (SC). Ten male competitive swimmers performed two 25m FC sprints: one breathing to their preferred side (Br) and one not breathing (NBr). Both swim trials...

The purpose of this study was to explore the reliability of estimating three-dimensional (3D) linear kinematics and kinetics of a swimmer derived from digitized video and to assess the effect of framing rate and smoothing window size. A stroke cycle of two high-level front crawl swimmers and one high level backstroke swimmer was recorded by four un...

Despite the importance of maintaining good alignment to minimize resistive drag in swimming there is a paucity of literature relating to the effect of technique asymmetries on rotations of the body about a vertical axis (yaw). The purpose of this paper was to present an approach to analyzing the effect of technique asymmetries on rotations in swimm...

Due to the difficulty of measuring forces and torques acting on a swimmer during mid-pool swimming, an inverse dynamics approach is required. Personalised body segment parameter (BSP) data enabling calculation of net forces and torques can be obtained using the elliptical zone method. The purpose of this study was to establish the reliability of es...

In a sport where victory is often determined by a fraction of a second, it’s obvious why one of the most sought-after secrets is how to swim faster. However, as the world’s most renowned coaches, athletes, trainers, and researchers know, there is no secret–just science.

In a sport where victory is often determined by a fraction of a second, it’s obvious why one of the most sought-after secrets is how to swim faster. However, as the world’s most renowned coaches, athletes, trainers, and researchers know, there is no secret–just science.

Glide efficiency, the ability of a body to minimize deceleration over the glide, can change with variations in the body's size and shape. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships between glide efficiency and the size and shape characteristics of swimmers. Eight male and eight female swimmers performed a series of horizontal gl...

The purpose of this study was to determine whether an early or late placement of the butterfly kick during the arm pull-down is more effective in terms of breaststroke start and turn performance between female and male swimmers. Overall the timing of the kick placement does not appear to influence the effectiveness of the underwater phase following...

The purpose of the study was to determine whether there are differences in kinematics between sprint and distance front crawl specialists when swimming at a distance pace using a six beat kick. Seven sprint and eight distance male specialists performed one maximum 400 m swim through a 6.75 m³ calibrated space recorded by six gen-locked cameras. The...

The purpose of this study was to use three-dimensional methods to determine whether there are distinct kinematic differences between sprint and distance front crawl swimmers when swimming at a sprint pace. Seven sprint and eight distance specialists performed four 25-m sprints through a 6.75-m(3) calibrated space recorded by six gen-locked cameras....

The purpose of this study was to determine accurately the magnitude and changes of intra-cycle velocity fluctuation (Vfluc), maximum (Vmax) and minimum velocity (Vmin) of the center of mass during a maximum 200 m frontcrawl swim, and to examine whether they are associated with performance. Performance was indicated by the mean velocity (Vmean) of t...