Work and rest peak heart rate variability response during the different technical and tactical situations of elite kickboxers

Abstract

The aim of this study is to define a quantitative model of physiological responses of the cardiovascular system to different technical and tactical (TE-TA) situations and two different standard tasks used in kickboxer training and real competitive activities so that the coach is able to accomplish impact and efficiency control of competitor preparedness. The sample consisted of nine healthy, highly trained subjects who are active competitors in kickboxing (age 19.9 ± 3.5 years, body height 177.9 ± 5.2 cm, weight 69.1 ± 8.3 kg, training years 3.4 ± 0.7 years, overall number of matches 10.2 ± 3.7). The results showed that there are statistically significant differences between the different TE-TA situations: 1) in the heart rate decrease between the 1st and 2nd rounds of F = 4.99, p = 0.015; 2) in the heart rate decrease between the 2nd and 3rd rounds of F = 5.01, p = 0.015. The obtained results show that during a match competitors achieve statistically significant higher values of peak heart rate (HRpeak) when compared to bag punching and kicking and sparring (meanHRpeakM is 190.11 vs 185.56 and 185.78 for meanHRpeakB and meanHRpeakS, respectively). The mean decrease of HRpeak for bag punching and kicking, sparring, and match is 23%, 18%, and 14%, respectively.