The Evaluation of Physio-Metabolic Responses and the Pattern of Skill Performance during Taekwondo Competition

The kind of predominant metabolic profile of any sports activity could be a parameter to determine physiological fitness, talent identification and training design. The aim of the present study was to determine the blood lactate level (BLL) and heart rate as intensity factors (physio-metabolic responses) and the ratio of high intensity movement to low intensity movement during taekwondo competitions. 12 national taekwondo athletes with training experience higher than 6 years (age: 22.16±3.09 years, height: 178.66±6.58 cm, weight: 69.75±14.51 kg, %BF 11.90±5) participatedin this study. The anthropometric variables and vo2max were estimated based on the Bruce’s exhaustive test (46.22±4.61 ml/min/kg) on a treadmill. Then, the maximal anaerobic power was measured using RAST field method (9.8±1.08 watt/kg). The subjects were classified into taekwondo weight groups using Olympic style and participated in a competition under the same conditions as a real one. The HR and BLL were measured before and at the end of each round. To evaluate the ratio of high intensity movement to low intensity movement (HM/LM ratio), a digital filming camera was used in all three rounds. The HR before the competition was 51.80±4.31 %HRmax and in the rounds 1, 2 and 3 was 89±5.16, 91.19±3.87 and 93.42±2.92 %HR max respectively. BLL before the competition was 2.4±0.89 mmol/L-1 and in the rounds 1, 2 and 3 was 9.50±1.78, 10.99±0.95 and 13.23±1.90 mmol/L-1 respectively. The HM/LM ratio was 1:3 to 1:4 during the three rounds. The findings of this study showed that predominant metabolism source was glycolytic and intensity of competition was maximal that can receive attention from coaches when designing training or determining physical fitness and identifying talents in taekwondo players.