Abstract
This study aimed to compare the anthropometric profile and physical fitness of young judo and wrestling athletes. Twenty-four young athletes (judo (n = 13) and wrestling (n = 11)) participated in this study. The first visit involved anthropometric and flexibility evaluation, abdominal endurance test, upper limbs resistance and cardiorespiratory test. After 48 h, horizontal jump test (HJT), vertical jump test (VJT), medicine ball throw test (MBT), chin-up test (CUT), chin-up isometric test (CUIT) and the anaerobic resistance test were performed. Judo athletes presented greater values for body mass (p = 0.020), height (p = 0.010), and body mass index (p = 0.026) than wrestlers. Judo athletes also performed better for abdominal endurance (p = 0.044), upper limb resistance tests (p < 0.001), VJT (p = 0.022) and MBT (p = 0.023) than wrestling athletes. These results suggest that young judo athletes presented a higher performance in abdominal endurance, upper limbs resistance, HJT, VJT and MBT than wrestling athletes, suggesting that strength and conditioning are related to modality specificity.
Highlights
Among the combat sports, judo and wrestling are the most represented in the Olympic Games and both distribute many medals in sporting events [1]
The main results of the present study were that: (i) Judo and wrestling athletes presented different anthropometric characteristics; (ii) judo and wrestling athletes presented similar aerobic power; (iii) judokas had a better performance than wrestlers in four of the nine tests performed; and (iv) there was a significant correlation between VO2 max and physical performance of wrestling and judo athletes with some of the tests performed
Our findings showed that power tests (HJT, vertical jump test (VJT) and medicine ball throw test (MBT)) of the judo athletes presented a significant positive correlation with aerobic power
Summary
Judo and wrestling are the most represented in the Olympic Games and both distribute many medals in sporting events [1]. Judo is mainly characterised by stand-up techniques aiming to throw or take down the opponent [2,3], while wrestlers aim to physically dominate the opponents and establish control [3,4]. Both are grappling modalities in which athletic performance is influenced by muscular strength, anaerobic power, muscular endurance, aerobic power, flexibility and technical ability [3,4,5], all of which are essential for competitive success [6,7,8]. It is important to ensure that the athletes’ aerobic system is sufficiently developed for training and competition, since aerobic power enables the maintenance of high intensity activities during the fight, which might allow individuals to Sports 2019, 7, 38; doi:10.3390/sports7020038 www.mdpi.com/journal/sports
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