A preliminary study on the relationship between energy expenditure and skin temperature in swimming

Abstract

This study experimentally investigated the possible relationship between energy expenditure and skin temperature during 2x 300m protocols (front crawl and backstroke), performed at the same intensity and velocity, in two national level male swimmers. Both swimming techniques increased skin temperature but with different thermal patterns. Higher values of energy expenditure during the 300m backstroke test were found comparing with the values obtained for the same distance performed in front crawl and higher difference between skin temperatures values were associated with lower energy expenditure values.