The effect of different loads on semi-tethered swimming and its relationship with dry-land performance variables Cuenca Fernández, Francisco Gay Párraga, Ana Ruiz Navarro, Jesús Juan Arellano Colomina, Raúl Swimming power Performance assessment Semi-tethered loaded swimming (denoted STLS) has been used widely to develop or test swimmers skills, although its transference to increase performance seems overestimated. In addition, its relationship with dry-land tests remains obscured by imprecise reports. Sixteen competitive male swimmers (age: 18.31 ± 1.42) participated in a two-fold purpose study: Firstly, swimming performance was assessed at different STLS intensities on an adapted Smith Machine. A repeated measures 1-way ANOVA was conducted to find differences between the variables collected through a linear encoder at 15, 30, 45 and 60% of the maximal load (ML). Secondly, the relationships between the swimming velocities and the different sorts of variables obtained on a dry-land arm-stroke strength test were studied by Pearson’s correlation coefficient (r). The results showed that less velocity, acceleration and impulse were delivered at high loads (p < 0.001). It increased the velocity fluctuation, affecting the swimming patterns adversely. On the other hand, the correlations between velocity-based dry-land variables and swimming velocities (r = 0.71) seem to be more suitable to predict swimming performance, rather than strength-based variables (r = 0.49). In conclusion, coaches should reconsider using STLS, as little or no benefit may be obtained in performance. 2020-06-23T09:34:47Z 2020-06-23T09:34:47Z 2020 info:eu-repo/semantics/article Cuenca-Fernández, F., Gay, A., Ruiz-Navarro, J. J., & Arellano, R. (2020). The effect of different loads on semi-tethered swimming and its relationship with dry-land performance variables. International Journal of Performance Analysis in Sport, 20(1), 90-106. http://hdl.handle.net/10481/62642 10.1080/24748668.2020.1714413 eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/es/ info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Atribución-NoComercial-SinDerivadas 3.0 España Taylor & Francis Journals