“When bottlenose dolphins swim — at a cruising speed around six miles an hour or a sprinting speed about twice that fast — they are constantly fighting against the water’s drag, which only gets worse as they swim harder.
Shawn R. Noren, a marine biologist at the University of California, Santa Cruz, set out to find how much extra drag would be experienced by a specific, aerodynamically disadvantaged subset of the dolphin population: adult females nearing the end of pregnancy.
…Pregnant dolphins also swim differently, making shorter but more frequent strokes. And the growing fetus stretches out the mother’s muscles, probably making it more difficult for her to thrust her tail up and down.”
www.nytimes.com/.../different-strokes-for-pregnant-dolphins.html
What can we swimmers learn from this? How does it relate to stroke rate and distance per stroke?
Through no fault of my own, I find that I have a less than optimal hydrodynamic profile. I wouldn't say I look like a pregnant dolphin, but opinions may vary. Should I shorten my stroke and increase my stroke rate to compensate for this unfortunate circumstance?
Discuss...
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Former Member
the author & proof readers should have caught this error
"aerodynamically disadvantaged subset of the dolphin population"
they should have written "hydrodynamicly"
Wonder how much slower pregnant dolphins are versus ones that aren't?
From the research paper summary...
"Pregnancy also induced a gait change as stroke amplitude and distance per stroke were reduced by 13 and 14%, respectively, compared with non-pregnant periods. This was concomitant with a 62 and 44% reduction in mean and maximum swim speeds..."
"Their top speed was restricted to 3.54 m s–1"
In all seriousness, I think this research is pretty relevant to aging Masters swimmers who are experiencing reductions in strength, range of motion, and maybe a larger hydrodynamic profile. It sure seems that nature is telling us to take smaller and faster strokes when facing these constraints.
the author & proof readers should have caught this error
"aerodynamically disadvantaged subset of the dolphin population"
they should have written "hydrodynamicly"
Wonder how much slower pregnant dolphins are versus ones that aren't?
From the research paper summary...
"Pregnancy also induced a gait change as stroke amplitude and distance per stroke were reduced by 13 and 14%, respectively, compared with non-pregnant periods. This was concomitant with a 62 and 44% reduction in mean and maximum swim speeds..."
"Their top speed was restricted to 3.54 m s–1"
In all seriousness, I think this research is pretty relevant to aging Masters swimmers who are experiencing reductions in strength, range of motion, and maybe a larger hydrodynamic profile. It sure seems that nature is telling us to take smaller and faster strokes when facing these constraints.
