Low-Volume High-Intensity Race-Pace Training in Finswimmers (LVHI-FS-TdeA)

Individual Responses to a Low-Volume, High-Intensity Race-Pace Training Block in Finswimmers From the Antioquia Underwater Activities League: A Prospective Single-Group Case Series

This prospective single-group case series will describe individual responses to a 9-week low-volume, high-intensity race-pace training block in approximately seven finswimmers from the Antioquia Underwater Activities League (LASA), Colombia. The intervention will be oriented towards race-specific swimming paces and will include repeated swimming efforts prescribed according to each athlete's main competitive event. External training load, heart rate, rating of perceived exertion, pace stability, and sport performance will be monitored throughout the block. The primary outcome will be the change in performance time in each athlete's main competitive event from baseline to post-intervention. The study will use an intra-individual descriptive approach and will not include randomisation, a control group, or causal inference.

Study Overview

• Status: Not yet recruiting
• Conditions: Athletic Performance; Exercise Performance
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Low-volume high-intensity race-pace finswimming training

Detailed Description

Finswimming is a high-speed aquatic sport in which performance in short and middle-distance events depends on the ability to produce and sustain race-specific velocity. Traditional aquatic training models often emphasise high training volume; however, for events lasting from seconds to a few minutes, race-pace work, neuromuscular quality, and individualised load monitoring may be particularly relevant.

This study will prospectively follow approximately seven finswimmers from the Antioquia Underwater Activities League (LASA) during a 9-week low-volume, high-intensity training block. All participants will receive the same general training approach, but training distances, repetitions, target times, and race-pace references will be individualised according to each athlete's main competitive event.

Before the intervention, athletes will complete a basic characterisation and a baseline performance assessment using either an official competition result or a standardised control test. Training target times will be estimated from the baseline performance. During the 9-week block, the investigators will record external load variables, including distance, repetitions, weekly volume, target time, and actual time for each relevant repetition. Internal load will be monitored using heart rate and rating of perceived exertion. Pace stability will be estimated from repeated times in event-specific distances using descriptive indicators such as mean time, standard deviation, and coefficient of variation.

After the intervention, performance will be reassessed in the athlete's main event through an official competition or a comparable standardised control test. Data analysis will focus on individual responses, weekly trends, and descriptive changes from baseline to post-intervention. The study will not include a control group or randomisation; therefore, findings will be interpreted as exploratory and non-causal.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Estimated): 7
• Phase: Early Phase 1

Contacts and Locations

• Study Contact: Name: Samuel Jose Gaviria Alzate, PhD; Phone Number: +573192772912; Email: samuel.gaviria@tdea.edu.co

Study Locations

• Colombia
  • Antioquia
    • Guarne, Antioquia, Colombia, 054080
      • Tecnológico de Antioquia
      • Contact: Samuel Jose Gaviria Alzate, PhD; Phone Number: 00573192772912; Email: samuel.gaviria@tdea.edu.co

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Child; Adult; Older Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Finswimmers affiliated with the Antioquia Underwater Activities League (LASA).
• Regular participation in finswimming training.
• A defined main competitive event.
• Availability to complete the 9-week follow-up period.
• Ability to complete high-intensity swimming training according to the regular sport programme.
• Written informed consent from adult participants.
• For participants under 18 years of age, written informed consent from a parent or legal guardian and written assent from the participant.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Active musculoskeletal injury.
• Relevant pain or acute illness at baseline.
• Medical restriction for high-intensity swimming exercise.
• Inability to complete the planned follow-up.
• Withdrawal of consent or assent.
• Insufficient attendance or incomplete records for the main study variables.
• Any condition judged by the research team or coaching staff to compromise participant safety during high-intensity swimming.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Other
• Allocation: N/A
• Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

1

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm

Intervention / Treatment

Experimental: Low-volume high-intensity race-pace finswimming training; Participants will complete a 9-week finswimming training block focused on low-volume, high-intensity, race-pace swimming. Training will be individualised according to each athlete's main competitive event and monitored using external load, heart rate, rating of perceived exertion, and repetition times.

Behavioral: Low-volume high-intensity race-pace finswimming training; The intervention will consist of a 9-week finswimming training block oriented towards race-specific pace. Participants will perform repeated swimming efforts prescribed according to individual target times derived from baseline performance. Training sessions will include event-specific distances, repetitions, recovery periods, and target intensities. External load will be monitored through distance, repetitions, weekly volume, target time, and actual time. Internal load will be monitored using heart rate and rating of perceived exertion. Training volume will be adjusted according to the athlete's event profile and reduced towards the final phase when tapering is required.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change from baseline in main-event finswimming performance time	Performance time, in seconds, will be recorded for each participant's main competitive event. The baseline value will be obtained from an official competition result or a standardised control test before the training block. The post-intervention value will be obtained from an official competition result or a comparable standardised control test after the 9-week block. A lower time will indicate better performance.	Baseline and week 9

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change from baseline in mean swimming velocity	Mean swimming velocity will be calculated from the performance distance and time in each participant's main event. Velocity will be expressed in metres per second. A higher value will indicate better performance.	Baseline and week 9
Weekly external training volume	External training volume will be quantified as the total metres completed per week during recorded race-pace or event-specific swimming repetitions.	Weekly from baseline to week 9
Weekly mean heart rate during recorded swimming repetitions	Heart rate will be recorded during training sessions using a heart rate monitor, sport watch, or equivalent device. Weekly mean heart rate will be reported in beats per minute.	Weekly from baseline to week 9
Weekly rating of perceived exertion	Rating of perceived exertion will be recorded using a numerical perceived exertion scale after relevant sets or at the end of the session, according to the predefined monitoring protocol. Weekly mean values will be described for each participant.	Weekly from baseline to week 9
Pace stability during event-specific swimming repetitions	Pace stability will be estimated from repeated swimming times in event-specific distances. The coefficient of variation will be calculated for each participant and distance when repeated measurements are available. Lower values will indicate greater pace stability.	Repeated training sessions from baseline to week 9

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Federal University of Vicosa
• Collaborators: Universidad de Antioquia

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Estimated): August 1, 2026
• Primary Completion (Estimated): August 1, 2026
• Study Completion (Estimated): September 1, 2026

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: July 2, 2026
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: July 2, 2026
• First Posted (Actual): July 9, 2026

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): July 9, 2026
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: July 2, 2026
• Last Verified: July 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: high-intensity training; finswimming; race-pace training; low-volume training
• Other Study ID Numbers: LVHI-Finswimmers-TdeA

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO
• IPD Plan Description: Individual participant data will not be publicly shared because the study will include a small number of athletes from a specific sport league, which may increase the risk of re-identification even after anonymisation. De-identified aggregate data, data dictionaries, and analysis procedures may be made available upon reasonable request, subject to ethics approval and institutional data protection requirements.

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No