Physical and Physiological Profiles of Taekwondo Athletes

Abstract

Taekwondo has evolved into a modern-day Olympic combat sport. The physical and physiological demands of modern-day taekwondo competition require athletes to be competent in several aspects of fitness. This review critically explores the physical and physiological characteristics of taekwondo athletes and presents implications for training and research. International taekwondo athletes possess low levels of body fat and a somatotype that characterises a blend of moderate musculoskeletal tissue and relative body linearity. While there is some variation in the maximum oxygen uptake of taekwondo athletes, moderate to high levels of cardio-respiratory fitness are necessary to support the metabolic demands of fighting and to facilitate recovery between consecutive matches. Taekwondo athletes demonstrate high peak anaerobic power characteristics of the lower limbs and this attribute appears to be conducive to achieving success in international competition. The ability to generate and sustain power output using both concentric and 'stretch-shortening cycle' muscle actions of the lower limbs may be important to support the technical and tactical actions in combat. Taekwondo competitors also display moderate to high maximum dynamic strength characteristics of the lower and upper extremities, and moderate endurance properties of the trunk and hip flexor musculature. The dynamic nature of the technical and tactical actions in the sport demand high flexibility of the lower limbs. More extensive research is required into the physical and physiological characteristics of taekwondo athletes to extend existing knowledge and to permit specialised conditioning for different populations within the sport.

The Importance of Lean Body Mass for the Rate of Force Development in Taekwondo Athletes and Track and Field Throwers

“…Taekwondo athletes were following a training program that was designed to develop technical skills and increase both their anaerobic and aerobic capacity to face the competition needs as recently described [15]. Resistance training for the athletes in this study was performed 2-3 sessions per week for the previous 4-5 years, including low resistance loads (60-70% of 1RM) with maximum velocity movements using mainly structural exercises (e.g., squat, bench press, leg extension).…”

“…Recently, a close relationship was reported between isometric leg press late RFD (>100 ms) and lean body mass in young aged track and field throwers, while early RFD (<100 ms) was not related with their lean body mass [14]. Taekwondo athletes are expected to have lower lean body mass when compared to track and field throwers [15], although direct evidence is lacking on this issue. This may suggest a lower late RFD and lower maximum isometric force (MIF) and/or torque (MIT) in taekwondo athletes as compared to that of throwers, although this remains to be evaluated.…”

Efecto de la categoría de edad sobre el perfil de flexibilidad en jóvenes taekwondistas

“…El taekwondo es un deporte dinámico en el que los gestos técnicos requieren un gran ROM, especialmente en las extremidades inferiores (Wasik, 2009;Bridge et al, 2014). Como se ha señalado, la prueba más utilizada para evaluar la flexibilidad en taekwondo es el test distancia de dedos planta (Wasik, 2009).…”

“…En los 17 taekwondistas valorados, se observaron diferencias estadísticamente significativas en EC (psoas-ilíaco), RIC (rotadores externos), REC (rotadores internos), siendo los valores superiores en la categoría cadete que en la junior. Estos resultados no coinciden con otros estudios previos que han valorado la flexibilidad en este mismo deporte (Suzana & Pieter, 2009;Bridge et al, 2014;Markovic et al, 2005). Sin embargo, estos datos deben de interpretarse con cautela por el pequeño tamaño muestral y el diferente procedimiento exploratorio empleado.…”

“…Si bien la flexibilidad puede ser importante en este deporte, no parece discriminar según la categoría de edad competitiva de los taekwondistas (Markovic, Misigoj-Durakovic, & Trninic, 2005). Los datos disponibles sobre la flexibilidad de taekwondistas se limitan, principalmente, a las mediciones de prueba distancia dedos planta, que proporcionan una evaluación razonablemente válida de la flexibilidad de los isquiosurales, pero no aporta información específica de esta cualidad por articulación, movimiento y categoría de edad federativa (Bridge et al, 2014).…”