Table 2 In-water warm-ups of different volume (n = 5), or same volume and different intensity (n = 1)*

Adams & Psycharakis [5]

8 males

(20.1 ± 1.8 y)

Competitive

i) 20 min in-water warm-up including a freestyle base set, speciality stroke (containing kick, pull and drills), start and turns, before finishing with a 200 m swim down

20 min

ii) Mixed warm-up: 10 min in-water warm-up and 10 min sauna

20 min

The effects of the WU types (active or mixed) on 100-m at individual’s preferred stroke performance were not different. Possibly because of the long duration of the recovery period

T100m: i: 61.1 ± 6.4 s; ii: 61.4 ± 6.7 s; The HR and RPE were lower after the active warm-up compared with the others

Balilionis et al. [21]

8 males

(19.9 ± 0.6 y) 8 females (19.8 ± 0.7 y)

National Collegiate; > 5 years of competitive experience

i) ii) Short WU: 50-yards freestyle swim at 40% of their maximal effort and another 50 yards swim at 90% of their maximal effort (total: 100 yards)

3 min

ii) Regular WU; their own precompetitive swim WU

(males: 1,257 ± 160 m)

(females: 1,314 ± 109 m)

3 min

The best group-mean 50-yards freestyle mean times were performed after regular WUs. HR was higher before the 50-yards trial after the regular WU;

T50-yard: i: 25.26 ± 1.61 s ii: 24.95 ± 1.53 s. HR: i: 142 ± 16 bpm; ii: 156 ± 23 bpm). RPE: i: 10.1 ± 1.7; ii: 12.1 ± 1.0. There were no differences for the swimming start variables

Houmard et al. [22]

8 males

Highly trained collegiate

i) 4 × 50-yards (110% \(\dot{\text{V}}{\mathrm{O}}_{2\mathrm{max}}\))

5 min

ii) 1,500-yards at 65% \(\dot{\text{V}}{\mathrm{O}}_{2\mathrm{max}}\);

iii) 1,300-yards at 65% \(\dot{\text{V}}{\mathrm{O}}_{2\mathrm{max}}\) + 4 × 50-yards at 110%\(\dot{\text{V}}{\mathrm{O}}_{2\mathrm{max}}\)

5 min

Although swimming time performance in 200-yards was not tested, they obtained higher distance per stroke (3.76%) in ii and iii. Higher lactate levels and HR were obtained after i

Mitchell & Huston [64]

10 males (19.3 ± 0.8 y)

Collegiate

i) 366-m swim at 70%\(\dot{\text{V}}{\mathrm{O}}_{2\mathrm{max}}\)

5 min

ii) 4 × 46-m swims at 1 min intervals at 110% \(\dot{\text{V}}{\mathrm{O}}_{2\mathrm{max}}\)

5 min

Performance in the tethered swim were slightly better in i; lactate was higher in ii

Tethered swim: i: 137 ± 53.3 s; iii: 122.94 ± 37.2 s; lactate: i: 2.27 ± 0.81 mM/L; iii: 6.97 + 1.97 mM/L

Neiva et al. [71]

11 males (18.1 ± 3.3 y)

National-level (509 ± 63 FINA points); > 6 years of competitive experience

i) standard in-water WU of 1,200 m

10 min

ii) short warm-up 600 m

iii) long warm-up 1,800 m

10 min

Swimmers were faster in 100-m freestyle after the short and moderate WU, suggesting that a long WU can impair the sprinting performance; specifically, the moderate WU showed higher swimming efficiency and an optimized recovery after the trial

T100m: i: 59.29 ± 1.95 s; ii: 59.38 ± 2.18 s; iii: 60.18 ± 2.46 s; swimmers were 1.46—1.54% and 1.34—1.24% faster after i and ii, respectively, compared to iii

Neiva et al. [10] *

13 males (17.1 ± 1.5 y)

Competitive (567 ± 66 FINA points) 56.79 ± 2.24 s best T100m; 8.2 ± 1.5 years of training

i) 1,200 m: 300-m swim (100 m usual breathing, 100 m breathing in the fifth stroke, 100 m usual breathing) 4 × 100-m on 1:50 (2 × [25 m kick + 25 m increased stroke length]) + 8 × 50-m on 1:00 (2 × 50-m drill; 2 × 50-m building up velocity; 4 × [25-m race-pace set]; 100-m easy swim)

10 min

ii) 1,200 m: 300-m swim (100-m usual breathing, 100-m breathing in the fifth stroke, 100-m usual breathing) 4 × 100 m on 1:50 (2 × [25-m kick + 25-m increased stroke length]) + 8 × 50 m at 98–102% of critical velocity

10 min

No differences between WUs in 100-m front crawl. There were different biomechanical, physiological and psychophysiological strategies during the race on response to each condition

T100m: i: 57.87 ± 1.84; ii: 57.83 ± 1.77 s (d = 0.07); T1st 50 m: i: 27.67 ± 0.99 s; ii: 27.70 ± 0.95 s (d = 0.7); T2nd 50 m: i: 30.31 ± 1.05 s; ii: 30.13 ± 0.92 s (d = 0.6);

T15m: i: 6.74 ± 0.28 s; ii: 6.76 ± 0.29 s (d = 0.09);

\(\dot{\text{V}}{\mathrm{O}}_{2}\): i: 50.11 ± 5.79; ii: 50.95 ± 7.41 (d = 0.15);

HR: i: 160 ± 15 bpm; ii: 163 ± 12 bpm (d = 0.5); lactate: i: 12.60 ± 2.50 mM/L; ii: 11.58 ± 3.11 mM/L (d = 0.56);

core temperature: i: 37.50 ± 0.32 ºC; ii: 37.71 ± 0.35 ºC (d = 0.42);

RPE: i: 18. ± 1.29; ii: 18.54 ± 1.20 (d = 0.82)