The term tapering is used to express the decrease in work level that the competitive swimmer undergoes during practice in order to rest and prepare for a good performance. It is believed that there is no phase of the coach's program of which he or she is less sure than the taper (Counsilman, 1977). During the intensive training period with repeated continuous exercise bouts, swimmers are likely to suffer various physiological stresses such as a decrease in blood hemoglobin concentration (Hb) due to the destruction of red blood cells (Yoshimura, 1970; Yoshimura et al., 1980) and an increase in serum creatine phosphokinase (CPK) activity (Enzyme Commission [E.q 2.7.3.2) Berg & Haralambie, 1978; Haralambie & Senser, 1980; Riley, Pyke, Roberts, & England, 1975; Sanders & Bloor, 1975) due to the deformities or altered permeability of tissue cell membranes (Highman & Altland, 1963). Previous studies concerning tapering reported that there were conistent increases in Hb (Burke, Falsetti, Feld, Patton, & Kennedy, 1981; Rushall & Busch, 1980) and decreases in CPK (Burke, Falsetti, Feld, Patton, & Kennedy, 1982), which indicated the recovery phenomenon from the previously mentioned physiological stresses. However, it is unknown whether only Hb and CPK, among the many blood constituents, show unique changes during tapering periods. Also unexamined is the number of days necessary to complete these changes in blood chemistry. The purpose of this study was to select some blood constituents that show unique changes during the tapering period and to observe the time course of the changes in detail.
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