Tethered Swimming: Historical Notes and Future Prospects

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Genesis and History

·       I congratulate the authors for this section.

Discovery

·       Line 92-94: Add some references as examples.

·       I miss some studies carried out by Arellano, R and Lyttle, A. D. (Suggestion)

Related Concepts or Principles

·       Line 133: Add some references as examples.

It is not surprising that there is a huge number of studies developed in this field…

·       Line 147-149: Reference this statement.

·       Line 184: Which one is it?

…one of the most specific ergometers for swimmers. 

·       Figure 2: Figure 2 is off-centre.

Applications

·       Line 284-286: Explain and justify why?

·       Line 287: Add some examples of this...

The advances in technology recorded in the last decade…

Bilateral Kinetic Asymmetries

·       Line 461: Add some references as examples.

Moreover, studies that analyze the behavior of asymmetry over time are scarce.

·       Line 478-480 and 497-499: Add some references as examples.

Development and Evolution

 

·       Line 668-669: Add some references as examples.

Author Response

Dear reviewer, thank you so much for the time taken to evaluate our manuscript. As you can see, we have made considerable amendments, improving its quality. We are very thankful for your insights which helped us achieve a more robust work. Most of your suggestions were related to references, which were included as appropriate.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

In general I find this article an excellent review of the history of tethered swimming. The broad referencing may be its greatest contribution. Tethered swimming has many applications.                                                                                           While in some cases the English language problems make reading more difficult, it remains understandable though less pleasant to read.  This reviewer suggests a strong need for editing by a native English speaker who is also familiar with aquatic activity.                                                                                               Regarding the application of ideas relative to the measurement of force application in an aquatic environment, I find it unfortunate that the authors have limited their thinking to possible applications in competitive swimming. This reviewer would like to point out that competitive swimming is only a small part of the field of aquatic movement. Here it is correct to point to the moderate correlation between force application and velocity. However, there are other areas of aquatic  movement where the force developed is far more important than velocity and their relationship becomes irrelevant. In various rescue techniques, in water polo and aquatic art, force itself is far more important than velocity and has many applications.  This article would be far more interesting and applicable if the focus was aquatic movement in general and not only on competitive swimming where the end product of velocity achieved is paramount. Examples might be the "boost" in water polo and aquatic art, or the overcoming of added resistance in rescue towing where force is the focus but velocity far less relevant.                                                                                      This article will be ready for publication when the English language is judged acceptable. I would encourage the authors to consider approaching the topic from a far broader aquatic movement perspective than that which they have incorporated. If not possible here, it would be an obvious next step for these authors to consider areas where force itself may be far more relevant than regarding the production of velocity. I congratulate the authors are their research efforts and encourage them to broaden their outlook. There is so much more waiting for them.

Comments on the Quality of English Language

seen above

Author Response

Dear reviewer, thank you so much for the time taken to evaluate our manuscript. As you can see, we have made considerable amendments, improving its quality. We are very thankful for your insights which helped us achieve a more robust work.

Furthermore, we have very keen to accept your suggestion for a new manuscript. One with a wider spectrum of application would be very useful for the scientific community.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 3 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

This entry retrieved a historical perspective, advances and the state of the art in the use of the tethered swim as a tool for exercise testing and training. There is no novelty, however the strength of the work leans on a dense reunion of the main studies in the field and can be helpful to readers that are looking for a practical and fast comprehension of this approach.

Among the topics covered by the authors are the genesis and history (first mentions), discovery (history perspectives and first applications), related concepts or principles (procedures and applied biophysics and biomechanics), applications (practical insights), development and evolution (main outcomes) and future directions (suggestions and speculative directions for the future in the field).

 

Minor comments

A brief introduction would be welcome to contextualize the choice of the topics that are found in the entry.

Some topics are excessively long and may be more concise.

 

Major comments

Although the authors have mentioned the ecological validity of the tethered swim, the paper would benefit from a section discussing the issues and limitations of the approach. Besides the ecological validity, this section can cover limitations as the increased rotation of the trunk after each stroke and the reduction in the drag coefficient, both due to the stationary application of force.

Author Response

Dear reviewer, thank you so much for the time taken to evaluate our manuscript. As you can see, we have made considerable amendments, improving its quality. We are very thankful for your insights which helped us achieve a more robust work.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

1.     Genesis and History

 

Lines 48 and 50: Add the type and model of dynamometer, planimeter.

Lines 60 and 61: Add some studies in relation to your statement.

 

This perception forced researchers to reduce the test time from 3 minutes (min) to durations closer to those used in competition (e.g., 5, 10, 20, 30, 45, 60 seconds).

 

2. Discovery

 

Line 80: Add the type and model of ergonometer.

Lines 80-86: Add some studies in relation to your claim.

 

Nevertheless, most studies conducted to date have evaluated the front crawl technique, thus leaving a huge gap in the analysis of the other techniques.

 

3.     Related Concepts or Principles

 

Lines: 120-122: Add some studies in relation to your statement.

 

Not surpris ingly there is a vast number of studies developed in this field, since swimming is a high interest sporting event, with records being frequently broken.

 

Lines 129-131 and 136-139: Reference these statements:

 

It is undeniable that sports performance in swimming is related and interdependent

on the swimmer's ability to invest and use his strength in an effective and efficient way,

in a fluid environment.

 

This instrumentation allows the measurement of the forces exerted by the

swimmer in immersion, using its fixation at a solid point, usually the starting block. That is, by swimming in the same place, it is possible to create force-time curves that can characterize and compare the pattern of force application and its efficiency.

 

4.    Applications

 

Line 250: Exemplify or add some examples

 

…swim has numerous potentialities in the measurement…

 

Line 260: Add type and model of load cell

Lines 280-281: Reference this statement:

 

By measuring sports performance parameters separately, it is possible to draw a swimmer profile, targeting to increase his performance.

 

Line 373-375: Reference this statement:

 

Another topic of research has been to evaluate the possible association between the forces that swimmers exert in dry (commonly known as gym work) and those that are exerted during swimming in-water.

Author Response

Dear reviewer, thank you very much for your suggestions.

However, there are many issues that concern us, thus, we would like to have the opinion from the academic editor.

The reviewer asks us to identify the model of the ergometer in a sentence where we state that tethered swimming can be used as an ergometer for studying swimmers. In our opinion it is not possible to state models or types in this type of sentence;

Moreover, he/she asks us to reference that " Not surprisingly there is a vast number of studies developed in this field". We don't understand what's the purpose. This is our own conclusion.

And all other suggestions follow the same ideia. Referencing something that is the goal of our manuscript. He/she just asks for references in sentences that are ours... that's the point of the article.

I really would like to have the editor thoughts on this, as I don't believe that we will increase the quality of the manuscript. In fact, we might even decrease it...