Would Customized Gym Sessions Enhance General Performance of State-Level Athletes? A Pilot Study

1. Introduction

Karate is a martial art that originated in Okinawa, Japan [1]. It is characterized by its diverse techniques, including punches, kicks, strikes, and open hand techniques. To date, the martial art has a population of over 10 million athletes and 100 million practitioners in the world [2]. Generally, karate could be categorised into two modes, which are “KATA” and “KUMITE” [3]. The former refers to the performance of predefined movements, or commonly known as imaginary fighting movements. The latter refers to the free fighting or sparring between two practitioners. As a karate practitioner, execution of techniques should be fast, sharp and impactful finishing towards the target. Past study proved that karate athletes with appropriate anthropometric characteristics could be advantageous in mastering the sport outcome [4]. Also, flexibility, balance and strength were identified as 3 fundamental components for a karate practitioner to reduce the risks of injury [5]. Sufficient joint flexibility has been associated with maximize performance among martial art practitioners, such as technique execution, range of motion, speed and agility [6].

A recent study reported that physical fitness training could elevate the martial art practitioners performances [7]. With the aid of sport science knowledge, sports performance by the karate athletes could be further enhanced. In terms of strength and conditioning, sport science could provide in-depth understanding on necessary physical attributes. On the other hand, proper nutrition and hydration could be one of the important elements in optimising the performance and recovery in karate [8]. On average, the caloric needs for athletes training with moderate or high intensity training may require 40-70kcals/kg/day [8]. For elite athletes, the require energy intake would be even higher than the mentioned amount [9]. Also, biomechanics under the sport science knowledge could provide the biomechanical analysis to examine the optimal body positioning, angles, and timing to maximise the outputs of techniques. Biomechanics could help in analysing the forces involved in different executed techniques, and taking necessary simulation approach to further enhance the movements [10]. Such human movement’s biomechanics exploration could be conducted by integrating existing engineering techniques and continuing development of new technology [10].

To the best of authors knowledges, the study on the integrating the customised gym sessions in affecting martial art athletes’ performance are rarely reported. Therefore, the present study aims to examine the effectiveness of customized gym sessions in enhancing the athlete’s general performance. The gym sessions were included for a duration of 2-months, under the supervision of strength and conditioning experts.

2. Methodology

In the present study, 4 male athletes’ that has practiced karate for at least 6 years, with at least 2 years’ experience of representing state, have been selected. These athletes belong to “KATA” event (performance-based), which is one of the branches under the karate competition. The present study does not include “KUMITE” athletes as the morphological parameters between “KATA” and “KUMITE” are different [3], which might affect the consistency of test results. All the four athletes undergo 5 days karate training per week, with at least 2.5 hours training per day. Their age ranges from 15 to 20 years old. To monitor the effect of integrating gym sessions into the regular karate training regime for a two-months period, the tests were performed twice: pre-gym sessions and post-gym sessions. The test for pre-gym session was conducted in March 2019, while the test for post-gym session was conducted in June 2019. In the two-month time, the karate training programme is resumed as usual, with the inclusion of additional gym training sessions. The gym sessions were conducted three days per week, with the gym programmes specifically customised for karate athletes. The technical difficulty for the first month gym session is rated as moderate level, while the second month gym session is rated as moderate to high level. The brief overall gym training regime is listed as in Table 1.

All karate training sessions were supervised by the state coach (8 years’ experience of supervising state team athletes), while the gym sessions were monitored by the strength and conditioning experts from state sports council. The purpose of having the experts’ monitoring was to ensure that the executed movements and postures are correct. A recent study reported that out of 293 athletes surveyed, 24.2% of them had suffered serious knee injury [11]. Surprisingly, 54.9% of them contracted with the injury during training [11]. Therefore, such a monitoring practice could reduce the risk of injury and effective gain from the training sessions. Throughout the 2 months period, the athletes were given supplements such as multivitamin, whey protein (24g-48g per serving after each gym session), electrolytes sports drink (30g per during gym session), and creatine (10g-20g per serving). The actual karate training and gym sessions are shown in Figure 1.

3 days before the actual test day, the athletes were requested to have a proper rest (at least 7 hours sleeping time). Prior to the tests, all athletes were required to perform light warm up and stretching sessions, which lasted for approximately 35 minutes. A total of 7 tests were monitored, i.e., anthropometric measurement, sit and reach test, stork balance stand test, T-test, counter movement jump, 20m sprint, and Yo-Yo endurance test. The progress of the tests is shown in Figure 2.

Anthropometric measurement is an evaluation of athlete’s physical attributes that could affect the athletic performance in sports. It is a non-invasive quantitative measurement of the athletes body [12], such as the relative proportions of skeletal muscle mass, body fat mass, fat free mass, and bone mass in the body [13]. An InBody 230 body composition analyser was used to perform the anthropometric measurement. To ensure the reliability of measurement, the analyser was outsourced calibration. This analyser using the bioelectrical impedance analysis, which measure the body resistance towards the electric flow in the athletes body. A higher electric resistance indicates that the higher body fat the athletes owned. To complete each body composition analysis, each athlete took about 30s to 60s standstill on the body composition analyser. For T-test, sit and reach, 20m sprint and stork balance test, each athlete is given three chances to retrieve the optimum results. Upon completing aforementioned tests, the athletes were given 15 minutes rest before attempting the Yo-Yo test.

3. Results and discussion

Based on the visceral fat analysis, the fat level for all four athletes falls within the scale of 1 to 3 out of 59. Scale 1 denotes to extremely lean condition, while scale 59 denotes to highly obesity condition. Based on the body composition test, the body fat percentage for four athletes were 13% and below. This value indicates that all athletes are physically fit and under healthy conditions. For the pre-gym session test, all athletes were identified in good performance conditions, with no injury reported. For the post-gym session test, athlete A was identified with injury at biceps femoris muscle. Therefore, Athlete A only performed tests which are deemed suitable, to prevent aggravation of the injury. Athlete A was constantly undergoing the physiotherapy sessions at a public hospital. The brief descriptions of the four athletes are tabulated in Table 2.

Referring to Table 3, the sit and reach test shows that 3 out of 4 athletes not having significant improvement in terms of flexibility. In contrast, the flexibility of hamstrings and lower back of athletes A and C was identified reduced by 5.54% and 7.41%, respectively. This occurrence could be due to the inappropriate stretching session after each gym session. Past study has reported that under proper cool down session, the resistance training shall result in no negative effects on flexibility. In terms of stork balancing, all athletes show a significant improvement up to 134.69%. Only the left leg of athlete A does not perform well due to the leg’s injury. The relative CMJ also shows a positive gain after attempting the two months gym sessions. Athlete D has the highest gain of 14.28% improvement, followed by athlete C with 3.78% enhancement. Due to athlete A unable sustained injury, the relative CMJ peak power does not show positive gain.

As shown in Table 4, the T-test and 20m sprint performances of post-gym sessions were found to drop up to 10.6% and 8.93%, respectively. This result indicates that the agility and acceleration were dropped, which could be due to the muscle stiffness. However, the Yo-Yo test shows a significant improvement, ranging from 9.09% up to 20%. This finding shows a positive relation between the gym training and endurance performance.

4. Conclusion and recommendation for future works

The present study shows that integrating a short-term gym session with a duration of 2 months, could improve the strength, body balance and endurance of athletes. Based on the stork balancing result, all athletes show a significant improvement up to 134.69%. However, the impact on the responsiveness and agility of athletes did not show any significant breakthrough. This scenario could be due to the neglectedness of appropriate cooling and stretching after the gym sessions. The T-test and 20m sprint performances of post-gym sessions were found to drop up to 10.6% and 8.93%, respectively. In future study, it is recommended that a large sample of participants should be included in the analysis. The performance of various tests could be correlated to the athlete’s body composition studies. Also, coefficient of determination (R²) could be used to measure the goodness of fit of the regression predictions approximate the athlete’s performance data. Alternatively, the investigation of different gym periods on the performance outcome could be an interesting study.