Kickboxing review: anthropometric, psychophysiological and activity profiles and injury epidemiology

Abstract

Kickboxing is one of the modern combat sports. The psychophysiological demands of a kickboxing competition require athletes to achieve high thresholds of several aspects of physical fitness. The aim of the current review is to critically analyse and appraise the kickboxer’s anthropometric, physiological, physical and psychological attributes with the activity profile and injury epidemiology in order to provide practical recommendations for training as well as new areas of scientific research. The available information shows that both amateur and elite-level male kickboxers are characterized by a higher proportion of mesomorphy with a well-developed muscle mass and low body fat percentage. While there is some variation in the maximum oxygen uptake of kickboxers, moderate to high cardio-respiratory levels are reported for these athletes. Regardless of kickboxers’ level, a high peak and mean anaerobic power output were reported. High-level kickboxing performance also requires well-developed muscle power in both the upper and lower limbs. Psychological factors contribute to success that requires high levels of self-confidence, motivation, dispositional hope and optimism, mental toughness/resiliency, and adaptive perfectionism. Psychological attributes also distinguished successful from less successful kickboxers. The activity-to-rest ratio was higher in elite (1:1) than both amateur and national-level (from 1:2 to 1:5) kickboxers, with no significant differences between rounds (round 1=1:4, and rounds 2 and 3=1:5) as well as between winners and losers in amateur and national-level simulated combats. These particular psychophysiological characteristics and performance aspects of kickboxers influence performance and could serve as guidance for training. Finally, kickboxing is characterized by chronic repetitive head trauma, which causes hypopituitarism due to traumatic brain injury (TBI). Future investigations into the physical, physiological and psychological characteristics related to age, gender and competitive levels of kickboxers are required to enrich the current knowledge and to help create the most suitable training programme.

A Perspective From the Middle East on the Topic of Concussion

“…However, the reports that were found were diverse. : from kickboxing and TBI in Qatar and Turkey (Slimani et al, 2017;Tanrivedi et al, 2007), fishing and aerial sport injuries as well as boxing related injuries in Turkey (Aydin, 2019;Cevik et al, 2016;Tanrivedi et al, 2008), to contact football and other team balls in Iran and Israel (Kordi et al, 2013;Kaplan et al, 2013), to new data on E-Biking with resulting serious injuries in Israel and Iran (Gross et al, 2018;Vahdati et al, 2016), rollover crashes as well as injuries related to Taekwondo and Karate in Iran (Anarkooli et al, 2017;Ziaee et al, 2010;Halabchi et al, 2007) and lastly camel jockeying injury in United Arab Emirates (UAE) (Abu-Zidan et al, 2012). Many countries focused on extremity injuries and were keen on detailing those injuries specifically; while data regarding head injury on the other hand was relatively sparse.…”

Hormonal responses to striking combat sports competition: a systematic review and meta-analysis

“…Kickboxing is a high-intensity intermittent striking combat sport that requires complex skills and tactical excellence for success where athletes are classified by gender, weight, and age [ 6 , 7 ]. Kickboxing bouts consist of 3 rounds of 2 min with 1 min of recovery between [ 6 ]. During an official kickboxing contest, Ouergui et al [ 15 ] reported a significant increase in C , T and HGH after full-contact kickboxing bouts.…”

Quality, height, age and home advantage in boxing. [Calidad, altura, edad y la ventaja de boxear en casa].

“…Psychological attributes distinguished successful kickboxers (Slimani, Chaabène, Miarka, Franchini, Chamari & Cheour, 2017), the strength of punches in different boxing categories (Pierce, Reinbold, Lyngard, Goldman & Pastore, 2006), a leftoriented fighters' advantage was proved in contact sports (Loffing & Hagemann, 2015). Age, amount of won and lost combats, and the outcome of the preceding fight was predictive of a fight's outcome (Warnick & Warnick, 2007).…”

“…The prescribing of adequate training in boxing (Slimani, Chaabène, Davis, Franchini, Cheour & Chamari, 2017;Cunniffe, Ellison, Loosemore & Cardinale, 2017), the identification of a prior to KO punches formula in heavyweight (Pic-Aguilar, Sánchez-López & BlancoVillaseñor, 2016) as a situational emergency facing task changes (Hristovski, Davids, Araújo & Button, 2006;Gómez, Lago & Pollard, 2013), represent breakthroughs in performance and boxing, but they do not rule out whether height influence in boxing could be considered decisive for a high performance, or whether performance indicators may vary by changing boxers' weight categories (Pierce et al, 2006) or heights.…”