We've taken six of the world's top athletes to find out what it takes to make it true Olympians
As we push their bodies to the max
When we look at Sprint swimmers what we're looking for is a very high
anaerobic capacity an ability to cope with high intensity exercise add on top of that with swimming though swimming is
incredibly technical
When you're not technically proficient you are uncanonical so it's marrying together the anaerobic capacity
The strength and the power with optimal technique
At the Olympic Games Rio 2016 19 year-old abbe Weitzel won
gold for the USA in the 4 by 100 meter medley relay and a silver in the 4 by 100 meter freestyle relay
Swimming the fastest split in her team
We've brought Abby to the prestigious st.
Mary's University in London a world leading sport science facility which counts Sir Mo Farah
four-time Olympic gold medalist among its former students
I believe I have an actual talent for swimming that I was born with and I believe that I was meant to swim
Just because I have a great feel for the water
Abby is one of the most powerful swimmers in the world
But our team of scientists are going to take her out of her comfort zone in the pool to truly test the anatomy that lies
behind the Olympic medals and record times of one of Team USA's star performers
the typical body shape of a sprint swimmer is tall and long because
Speed in swimming is about stroke rate times by stroke length combine that with high strength and high power output
And that will increase the speed of arm turnover
we're analyzing Abby's body composition her relative muscularity and fat percentage as
Well is taking a series of measurements across her whole form training and technique are vital ingredients for any Olympic level athlete
But having the right Samantha type or physical characteristics is the key foundation to build on from medal success
Looking at your height and also your limb length. We can see that you're probably most suited to sprint distance sport
I actually have a short torso and very long limbs
compared to other swimmers who mostly have longer torsos and
Shorter limbs that kind of backs up what we found with our results there
It gives you that mechanical advantage in the fall which is reaching for that finish line
Extra advantage one interesting factor that we see is when we're measuring the leavers
Particularly the arms because what we know is that the long arms?
Create long stroke lengths and stroke length is a key determinant of sprint speed performance, and if we look at Abby Abby has got
Exceptionally long arms and those long arms allow her to create a long stroke length allow it to create speed
As we expect the upper body is crucial to swimming performance because it's the area where the greatest amount of propulsive force is generated
So this test will give us a good indication to Abbas upper body power output
you have the ball against your chest and you're gonna throw it as explosively as possible and this gives us an idea of your
Upper body power so I imagine this would be quite relevant to you as a swimmer
Yes, definitely upper body strength especially for the pole and freestyle and any stroke actually so we work on that a lot
Okay, well in that case would expect you to
Freestyle or the front crawl stroke and swimming puts nearly 50 different muscle groups to work
But it's the upper body, which is the real powerhouse?
Providing two-thirds of the propulsive energy in every stroke compared to the leg muscles
Can be as powerful as you can release their ball and try and get the most distance you can't the seated medicine ball
Throw has been one of the standard assessment tests for all new draft ease to the major professional sports leagues in the u.s.
Like the NHL this test just like front crawl swim itself pushes the scapular stabilizers
Pectorals wrist flexors and triceps the same muscle groups that Abby utilizes in every energy-sapping stroke in the pool
They are be last one so keep your back against the seat pad and then just throw it as far as you can
That was close to your first one. Yeah, exactly the same, so you mean called your best good work
Abbie's performance in the test rivals that of many elite female athletes from basketball and volleyball
And her ability to unleash enormous explosive power is a key factor in her swimming success
Abby was able to propel the six kilogram mass over four meters
Which really does demonstrate the huge power output that she has in her upper body I do believe that my physical
skills do come with the upper body that is
But I've always been better at
The lung function test is a really important test for all athletes
But particularly for Sprint swimmers because what it's going to tell us is the size of Abby's lungs
now critically the larger the lung the greater the surface area to up to take oxygen and
Importantly for a sprint based athlete is to get rid of carbon dioxide
In a 100-meter freestyle relay Lake a swimmer against forty percent of their energy needs from the aerobic system almost ten times
the amount that attracts printer uses in a four by 100 relay
So Farabi a powerful efficient lung function is a vital weapon in her anatomies armories
How we keep going keep going keep going keep going empty the lungs as much as you can good same again
Good keep going keep going keep going push push push push push push push until you've got Noella good
Ok I'll be these are your results from the test you just did and for example your forced vital capacity
That's the amount of air that you can expel that is a hundred and thirty percent of
Predicted these are indicative of an elite level athlete and some of the highest results. I've recorded
Thank you the lung function test results for a B really are exceptional and it's the forced vital capacity
That we're taking a look at and that figure is five point seven four liters
And that is one hundred and thirty percent of what we expect to see for someone of her size and her gender
In other words thirty percent bigger than normal
truly massive
I
Started swimming because of my sister she swam in high school, and so I started swimming I didn't start swimming competitively
Until I was about 13, I still say I'm complete rookie in the sport like gaining my experience, but I'm there's so much to learn
Rio was an amazing experience?
The United States of America I remember walking out for my first race which was the relay on night 1 my first
Olympic race was an Olympic final. It was pretty crazy
But I didn't let that affect me as much because I wasn't nervous at all which was really weird to me
But it was just so surreal
You have the crowd the rest our team in the stands
And it's just like the vibe that you get when you walk out, and it's just like I'm here like this. It's just awesome
The Scot jump test the reaction time test and the counter movement loaded jump test a
Critical measures of power output, which is crucial to the start in Sprint swimming?
Abi's ability to respond to the starting signal as quickly as possible is
Absolutely fundamental to the outcome for Sprint swimmers just like they're on track
counterparts the fast twitch fibers of the lower body muscle groups really come into their own in the start sequence and a fast and explosive
Getaway can be the difference between an Olympic medal or just missing out
So we're trying to assess how explosive you are off the block and also trying to gauge your reaction time
So is that something that you know you work on yes, we work on it a lot
And I've gotten a lot better at it, so I feel like I'm I'm pretty decent at it. Okay. Well. We'll see how you go
To assess a B start speed
We are measuring her movement times the gap between the starting beat and the moment resistance is applied to the force plate
In sprint swimming the starting sequence also consists of two further phases the flight time or initial entry into the water and the
subsequent underwater stroke both these phases demand the generation a huge explosive power
By measuring the force a B applies to the specially calibrated
floor plate while bearing a loaded weight across our shoulders
We can also assess the energy she can transfer from the starting blocks into that vital initial entry into the water
The standouts are really the reaction time and in particular the movement time
Which is actually faster than any other elite female swimmer ever measured, I mean truly incredible
Demonstrating that she can produce power very very rapidly the force velocity
Relationship, which is effectively how quickly a B can produce force and tell us that she is incredibly rapid and that?
Really tells us why she has got a great sprint start you want to get out in front
As fast as possible the hundredths of a second is literally
What wins race your reaction time your explosiveness off the block which is what I've worked on my starts gotten so much better
There's the entry there's the angle there's everything and the starts super important
For someone like Abby who is a sprint swimmer she is an anaerobic
athlete nonetheless
Aerobic capacity is still important to support that Sprint swimming
and it's also very very important in training so that she can enhance her recovery of
Multiple sprint set as the Spiro test has already shown us Abbey's lung function is way above the typical female of her age group
But the vo2 max remains the ultimate test of an athlete's respiratory system and will take Abby to a level of exhaustion
she has never experienced before and
We're just gonna hold on to that rate, that's perfect great work. I've been doing really well keep the stroke long
Excellent work keep pushing yourself
In a 50 meter freestyle swim only 4% of energy needs are met by aerobic processes
But in the 100 meter event it is 10 times that figure at over 40%. Let's go now good keep pushing
So Abby's relay performance requires her to take in as much oxygen as possible
And deliver it to her muscles as quickly and efficiently as she can final 10. Let's go
Let's get into the 140s come on push keep going keep going keep going last few strokes keep pushing keep pushing
Good good good
excellent work brilliant effort
Abby's four minutes of maximal effort on the rowing ergometer produced a vo2 peak of 48 milliliters per kilogram per minute
Putting her on the same level as an Olympic 100-meter track sprinter, but with one important difference
When tae-hee look at Eva's vo2 max test results one thing we do have to take into account is the fact she performed it on
A rowing odometer so what we'd expect to see is a higher vo2 max if we measured it in the pool for example
Because it's much more specific, but for a sprint based and the aerobic swimmer
Aerobic capacity is good which will support her sprint swimming and critically support her in training
I believe that endurance you build on land as well
Translate into just being a better athlete which translates into moving through the water better and just being comfortable in the water
Abby has shown that to be an Olympic gold medal-winning sprint swimmer
It's not enough just to have a perfect body shape you need a combination of lightning fast reactions
explosive power that can be deployed instantaneously and huge upper-body strength all underpinned with a
Determination to push your body to the maximum. Let's go again Abby is one of the best sprint swimmers in the world
She is a power based
anaerobic athlete and the test results really bear that out if we take a look at
Reaction time we take a look at movement time
They truly are exceptional higher than we've ever measured in an elite swimmer
And it's the combination of these factors, which make a baby one of the fastest sprint swimmers and an Olympic gold medalist
I love Therese and I
The rush you get during a race at the end of the race and just to see what you can do
I love seeing what I'm able to do