A STUDY ON THE KICK FREQUENCY SPEED TEST OF KICK BOXING ATHLETES

Abstract

Aim: Kick is a branch made with kicking and punching, which is a combination of kicking and boxing punch. Kick Boxing is known as a mixed martial art from the formation of all far eastern martial arts. The interest in kickboxing is increasing worldwide due to its beneficial effects such as increasing muscle strength and keeping the body in shape. Apart from performing the Kick Boxing branch only in terms of defense and discipline or health, there are many licensed athletes registered both in our country and in the world Kick Boxing federation, participating in professional and competitive matches. Since the kicking technique requires high explosive power, stronger lower extremity muscles are accepted as one of the important parameters affecting the sportive success of Kick Boxers. The aim of the study is to apply the Kicking Frequency Speed Test (FSKT) between the athletes who practice the licensed Kick Boxing sport branch with experience and those who continue inexperienced. 24 male Kick Boxers voluntarily participated in the study. Participants were experienced group (EG, n=12, age: 22.16, height: 167.33 cm, body weight: 63.16 kg, body mass index (BMI): 22.17 kg/m2, training experience: 6.75 years) and inexperienced group (IG, n=12, age: 21.75 years, height: 165.66 cm, body weight: 63.00 kg, BMI: 22.81 kg/m2, training experience: 3.66 years). Participants attempted to kick the training dummy the maximum number of times over 10 s during FSKT10s; they repeated the same application five times with 10 s rest intervals. Statistical analyzes were performed with the IBM-SPSS 24 program and the level of significance was evaluated as p>0.05. While there was no significant difference between the groups in the variables of age, height, body weight and BMI; difference in training experience. As a result, it can be said that Kicking Frequency Speed Test (FSKT) is accepted as a more specific performance test for sports involving kicking technique compared to such tests.