Research purpose. This study aims to compare anthropometric characteristics between elite and novice bodybuilders. Materials and methods. Twenty bodybuilders consisted of 10 elites and 10 novices were recruited. Percent body fat, segmental lean mass, and segmental fat mass were measured by a bioelectrical impedance analysis device. Other measure includes the circumference of body segment and body height. Results. Results of the study indicated that significant differences were found in terms of upper arm (flexed) circumference, upper arm circumference, and chest circumference, with the elite, were bigger than the novice. Elite bodybuilders also had significantly lower body fat percentage, with a better segmental lean mass of the right arm, left arm, and trunk. Interestingly neck, arm, waist, hip, thigh, and calf circumferences were not significantly different between groups. Similar insignificant differences were also found in body mass index, a segmental lean mass of right leg and left leg, a segmental fat mass of left and right arm, trunk, and left and right leg. With regards specifically to the group of bodybuilders that participated in this study, the non-significant differences variables may indicate areas that can be improved in terms of training in both elite and novice. The variables with significant differences may indicate the area that may have been over-emphasized by the elite group, which may also contribute to their better (winning) performance. Conclusions. In a conclusion, the results also correspond well with bodybuilding judging criteria, where one of them such as size (circumference) may be similar, but bodybuilders with lean and well-defined bodies will be in the winning group.

Background. Bodybuilding is a sport where a person should do a lot of weight training while in the same time having a strict diet control. Due to this, they are believed to have higher chances of getting injured. However, lack of research has been conducted on the incidence of injuries and the treatment history among bodybuilders in Thailand. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate and compare the incidence of injuries and treatment experience between elite and beginner Thailand bodybuilders. Material and methods. 157 bodybuilders who were registered as members of the Thailand Bodybuilding and Physique Sports Association (since 2020-2021) were recruited as participants in this study. They were divided in to two groups, namely elite (more than 5 years of sports training) and beginner (less than 5 years of sports training). A valid and reliable questionnaire was used to collect the data from the participants. Results. There was no significant difference in the most common period of injury between the beginner and elite groups. The most common period of injury for both groups was found to be during diet period (beginner 55.43%; elite 55.38%) followed by bulk period, off season and competition period, respectively. For the injury area, there was no difference between the groups, with the lower back (beginner 63.04%; elite 52.31%) being the most common area of injury, followed by shoulder, chest, finger and wrist. There was also no significant difference in treatment between the groups in the first 48 hours after injury. Most of the athletes in both groups had rest (beginner 80.43%; elite 81.53%) and applied cold (beginner 61.96%; elite 73.85%) to their injury area. Additionally, the beginner group of Thai bodybuilders visited the physical therapist more often than the elite group did (p < 0.01). At the same time, there was no significant difference in medical doctor, sports scientist, coach and self-treatment and rehabilitation between both groups. However, most of athletes from both groups mainly resorted to self-treatment. Conclusions. The study findings are expected to be valuable for the bodybuilding association, coaches and athletes to take extra precautions regarding injury in the future.

Research purpose. This study aims to examine and determine the effect of wearable resistance loading during warm-up protocol on front kick movement mechanics and muscle activation. Materials and methods. Twenty-five (N = 25, height = 174.00 ± 4.76 cm, weight = 75.93 ± 13.64 kg, age = 22.57 ± 1.36 years) male university taekwondo athletes were recruited as participants of the study. Wearable resistance with loading of 0%, 5% and 10% of the athletes’ body mass were attached to participants’ thigh and shank. Kinematics, kinetics and muscle activation during front kick were assessed. Results. Overall, the results showed that there were no significant differences found between different WR loading in kinematics, kinetics and muscle activation during front kick movement. The results reflected that there were no detrimental effects of wearing wearable resistance during warm-up sessions. The findings are somewhat surprising as it was hypothesized that WR loading would produce effects on the mechanics of kicking and muscle activation. Wearable resistance did not increase kicking performance which was reflected by kicking velocity. This might be due to percentage of loading used which are seen as not reducing the performance, which reflects that the wearable resistance can be used during warm-up in training sessions as an add-on to resistance training. Conclusions. We suggest that future studies should examine the chronic effects of wearable resistance as specific tools to be used in enhancing the performance of taekwondo kicks.

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