The effect of different level of activation on control the power generation of dominant leg of elite Taekwondo athletes

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of different levels of activation on the force production control of Iranian elite Taekwondo players. In this study, activation was used as a psychological skill with physiological effects. Control of the force production of the leg is considered as one component for detection of motion. This descriptive study was performed on 20 male Taekwondo players (ages 24±2.5 years), these players randomly selected from Taekwondo Superior League of Iran. The electrical conductivity of skin during the task was recorded as arousal index, and the difference between produced and requested force was recorded as force production error. For the task of force production, isokinetic dynamometer (Biodex S4) was used. One-way analysis of variance was used for data analyzing by SPSS 19 software. The results revealed a significant difference between high and low activation in the control of force generation. Also, Taekwondo players with lower and moderate activation have fewer errors in control of force generation of their feet. However, the results shown that elite Taekwondo players with lower and moderate activation had better performance in compare with high activation level in the same conditions and High activation has the negative effect on the force production control. High activation can increase errors in force production control and ultimately lead to poor performance. This study suggests that coaches monitor taekwondo players’ activation level to optimize their ability to control force production.