Body composition, power muscle, and baropodometric assessment in elite Muay Thai athletes

Abstract

Background. Muay Thai is a dynamic fighting style which has existed for over 2000 years and consists of using a multitude of fists, kicks, and knee and elbow strikes to knock out the opponent. Studies indicate that the general physiologic profile of Muay Thai athletes is high anaerobic power and muscular strength, with low body fat percentage and a mesomorphic somatotype. Problem and Aim. Evaluate morphological, physical and baropodometric characteristics of elite male Muay Thai athletes. Methods. Fifteen elite Muay Thai athletes performed the following tests: Anthropometric measurement, lower limb muscle power and baropodometric assessment in static conditions. Results. Athletes presented body fat percentage (10.8 ± 3.8%) and balanced mesomorphic somatotype (2.3- 5.5-2.1). In lower limb strength performance, we observed measures of 44.7 ± 4.4 cm, 1640 ± 284 N, and 4.1 ± 3.6 % in vertical jump height, maximum force and bilateral asymmetry index percentage respectively. Additionally, baropodometric analysis revealed higher maximum force values in the heel and metatarsal zones (p<0.01 and p< 0.05, respectively). On the other hand, peak pressure and load distribution values were higher in the dominant foot (p<0.05). Moreover, we observed a higher load distribution percentage on the rearfoot surface than the forefoot surface in both the left (58.7% and 41.3%, respectively) and right foot (64.3% and 35.7% respectively). Conclusions. These results provided a profile of elite Muay Thai athletes that could be used as training and tactical targets for developing athletes.