Analysis of Force, Time, Energy, Psychological demand and Safety of common kicks in Martial Arts

Abstract

<p>Different forms of Martial Arts have become a popular sport and ways of being fit in the past couple of decades; Kick boxing, Taekwondo, Mixed Martial Arts, being some of them. Complex combinations of punches, kicks and both have been developed over the years. This study focuses on kicks and the aim was to find the best kick with regards to force, time of kick, energy consumption, force/energy, heart rate, safety and psychological demand which was in terms of mental demand, physical demand, temporal demand, effort, performance and frustration. A study was conducted in which 16 participants (5 females and 11 males) participated who were between 18 and 35 years of age with at least 2 years of experience. Each participant performed 10 kicks each of Front Kick, Roundhouse Kick, Side Kick and Spin Kick. Force was measured from the force sensor, time of kick from the video using a stop watch, energy consumption and heart rate were measured from the bio harness, safety and psychological demand were measured from the response of the participants to a pain scale and NASA TLX survey respectively. It was found that the Roundhouse and Front Kick were superior to the Spin and Side kick for most of the variables except force. However, even though the force obtained from these two kicks was lesser than Spin and Side kick, it was enough to knock the opponent down if hit at the right spot. Among front and roundhouse kick, the front kick was safer due to the fact that it’s striking with the ball of the foot than the instep which is much delicate as compared to the former. The interesting point was even though the front kick was not favorite among the participants as compared to the roundhouse kick, it was better than the roundhouse kick for few variables and equal for the rest. This shows the tremendous potential front kick has if given enough importance instead of disregarding it as a kick that is not visually impressive.</p>