Original articles  EXERCISE PHYSIOLOGY AND BIOMECHANICS 

The Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness 2002 December;42(3):431-7

Copyright © 2009 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

Physiological responses during and following karate training in women

Imamura H. ¹, Yoshimura Y. ¹, Nishimura S. ², Nakazawa A. T. ³, Teshima K. ¹, Nishimura C. ⁴, Miyamoto N. ¹

¹ Laboratory of Nutrition and Exercise Physiology Department of Food and Nutrition Nakamura Gakuen University, Fukuoka, Japan 2 Federation of All Japan Karate-do Organizations Tokyo, Japan 3 University of Alaska Fairbanks, USA 4 Nagasaki Prefectural University, Nagasaki, Japan

Back­ground. The pur­pose of ­this ­study was to ­examine ­whether ­each exer­cise and an ­entire ­karate ­training ses­sion can ­achieve: 1) ­accepted ­training inten­sity thresh­olds for effec­tive ­aerobic ­capacity ­training; 2) ­energy expen­di­ture (EE) thresh­olds for ­total ­body ­mass and fat ­weight ­loss; and, 3) ele­va­tion in ­excess ­postexer­cise ­oxygen con­sump­tion (­EPOC).
­Methods. We inves­ti­gated phys­io­log­ical ­responses ­during 5 ­types of ­karate ­training in ­female ­karate prac­ti­tioners: ­basic tech­niques ­without (S-­Basics) and ­with (M-­Basics) move­ments, spar­ring tech­niques ­without (­TECH I) and ­with (­TECH II) an oppo­nent, and ­kata.
­Results. The ­mean per­cent of max­imum ­oxygen ­uptake ­reserve (%VO2R), per­cent of max­imum ­heart ­rate (%­HRmax), and max­imum ­heart ­rate ­reserve (%HRR) for S-­Basics ­were ­below the ­accepted ­threshold and for M-­Basics ­were mar­ginal or ­above the ­threshold for ­increasing VO2max. For ­TECH I, ­TECH II, ­kata, and the ­entire 70-min prac­tice, the ­mean %­HRmax and %HRR ­were ­well ­above the ­threshold, how­ever, %VO2R was ­below the ­threshold. ­Although the ­mean ­EPOC meas­ured for 5 min imme­di­ately fol­lowing the ­entire 70-min ­karate ­training did not ­differ ­from ­resting VO2. The ­blood lac­tate ­responses to the 5 ­types of ­karate exer­cises ­ranged ­from 1.2±0.3 to 2.2±0.8 ­mmol·L-1. The ­mean EE for ­each ­karate exer­cise ­ranged ­from 157±10 kJ to 314±16 kJ. The ­mean EE for the ­entire 70 min prac­tice and ­EPOC ­were 1120±64 kJ and 28±2 kJ, respec­tively.
Con­clu­sions. The ­training inten­sities of ­karate exer­cises ­studied in ­women ­were ­light to mod­erate, ­effects of ­karate ­training on ­EPOC was min­imal, and the ­mean EE was mar­ginal to the ­accepted ­threshold for ­total ­body ­mass and fat ­weight ­loss.