Anthropometric and physical characteristics of mixed martial art athletes

Graduation Date

2016

Document Type

Project

Program

Other

Program

Project (M.S.)--Humboldt State University, Kinesiology, 2016

Committee Chair Name

Young Sub Kwon

Committee Chair Affiliation

HSU Faculty or Staff

Keywords

Test components, Fighter, UFC, Performance, Tactical, Humboldt State University -- Projects -- Kinesiology, Skill, Combat sports, Physical, Health, Characteristics, Athlete, MMA, Somatotype, Anthropometric

Abstract

The primary purpose of this project was to describe the anthropometric and physical characteristics of MMA fighters to establish a reference for their athletic profile, focusing on: somatotyping, skill-related physical fitness test components, and muscular fitness tests, which would provide basic guidelines to help coaches and athletes develop training goals. A total of 30 subjects, 13 amateurs and 17 elites competitive male MMA fighters volunteered for this project. The battery of performance tests was administered by sports scientist outside of a laboratory setting. Measures included: mean somatotype (3.4-6.2-1.9) characterized as endomorphic-mesomorph; age: 26.0 ± 6.0 years; height:177.0 ± 8.0 cm; body mass: 80.8 ± 12.9 kg; %BF: 9.7 ± 2.5 %; mean 1RM/BM for bench press: 1.34 ± 0.2, back squat: 1.8 ± 0.2 and weighted chin-up: 0.7 ± 0.2; combined grip strength: 110.2 ± 22.8 kg; and pull-up test: 20.1 ± 4.2 repetitions. Descriptive data was used to generate reference values for MMA fighters by classifying them into high, medium, and low rankings. When assessing the skill-related performance tests using k-mean cluster analysis, two groups were formed (Cluster 1: 6 amateurs and 2 elites; Cluster 2: 7 amateurs and 15 elites). The fighters in Cluster 2 scored significantly (p .05) better than those in Cluster 1 in all of these tests. In addition, an independent t-test revealed that elite fighters had significantly better scores than amateurs for agility, power, and coordination. This may suggest that these three performance tests are good indicators for the sport demands of MMA.

https://scholarworks.calstate.edu/concern/theses/3n204140g

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