What is it about?
Success within any sport requires certain types of physical, physiological, psychological and social capabilities. It is well known that the body composition of an athlete plays a critical role in sports performance1,2. However, although many studies exist concerning the kinanthropometric attributes of many mainstream sports, few studies are forthcoming on combat sports3, especially in elite athletes4 and across the various martial art disciplines. When such data is forthcoming on kinanthropometric attributes in the world`s martial art disciplines, data is further lacking in the particularly strong Asian countries5,6. Knowing the kinanthropometric attributes such as body size, body proportions, physic, body shape and body composition for any sport allows the coach and conditioning specialist to optimally develop nutritional and/or training programmes to maximise athletic performance in that particular sport7. Specifically, it has been demonstrated that a high degree of fat-free mass and low degree of fat mass is directly linked to improved exercise skills8. Further, the majority of research regarding kinanthropometric attributes have illustrated that the anthropometric features of morphology (endomorphy, mesomorphy and ectomorphy) also play an essential role in the success of the athletes in a particular sport in comparison to non-athletes9. As a result, coaches and conditioning specialists often consider certain kinanthropometric attributes in order to select the athletes to earn championship titles10.
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Why is it important?
In addition, the determination of kinanthropometric attributes for any sport is essential for talent identification for a particular sport11. In fact, many studies in talent identification have concluded that there is a strong relationship between body composition and motor performance12. By knowing the required kinanthropometric attributes for a particular sport, coaches and conditioning specialists will be better enabled to recognise and determine an individual’s capabilities and appropriately guide him or her to the appropriate sport and to develop realistic expectations for the athlete in a particular sport. The problem with most of the previous studies on the kinanthropometric attributes of combat sports is that they were either concentrated on a limited spectrum of morphological characteristics or were conducted in the absence of one of the somatotype characteristics, anthropometric and/or body compositions1,2,12,13. As such, the present study aimed to examine the kinanthropometric attributes of three martial art disciplines (i.e., judo, karate, and taekwondo) and to juxtapose as well as to compare the kinanthropometric attributes of these three disciplines to determine if a significant difference exists among elite male athletes.
Perspectives
The findings of the present study demonstrate that the sampled elite Judo athletes displayed higher fat mass, sum of skinfolds (particularly at the triceps and subscapular skinfold sites), percentage body fat and lower percentage lean body mass that either the elite Taekwondo and Karate athletes. In addition, the sampled Judo athletes displayed a more endomorphic somatotype when compared to the Taekwondo and Karate athletes, who displayed a more mesomorphic type. These findings are essential since long-term training programmes may be implemented to improve identified kinanthropometric attributes in athletes associated with sports performance, and those athletes with appropriate kinanthropometric attributes may be identified and guided to and within the appropriate sporting discipline. Based on these results, it can be said that different athletes have different kinanthropometric attributes that is related to the source of their sport and specialised training.
Dr Ardalan Shariat
Tehran University of Medical Sciences
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: KINANTHROPOMETRIC ATTRIBUTES OF ELITE MALE JUDO, KARATE AND TAEKWONDO ATHLETES, Revista Brasileira de Medicina do Esporte, August 2017, FapUNIFESP (SciELO),
DOI: 10.1590/1517-869220172304175654.
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