2017, Volume 13, Issue 1

Influence of acceleration of the fist on the effectiveness of the straight punch in taekwondo

Jacek WÄ…sik¹, Zbigniew Borysiuk², Å tefan Balkó<sup>3

1</sup>Pedagogiczny, Akademia im. Jana Długosza, Częstochowa, Poland
²Wychowania Fizycznego i Fizjoterapii, Politechnika Opolska, Opole, Poland
³Faculty of Education, J. E. PurkynÄ› University, Ústí nad Labem, Czech Republic


Author for correspondence: Jacek Wąsik; Pedagogiczny, Akademia im. Jana Długosza, Częstochowa, Poland; email: jwasik[at]konto.pl

Full text

Abstract

Background & Study Aim: In its traditional version the taekwon-do straight punch is an important element in the coaching of martial arts practitioners. In sports competition, these strikes are used most often when attacking or counter-attacking, and also in power tests, they are a considerably significant technique when it comes to granting a victory. This is the reason why this study has focused on the relationships between acceleration and other kinematic factors involved in the execution of the straight punch (in taekwondo referred to as ap jumok jirugi) and whether from the point of view of biomechanics there are differences between the dominant and non-dominant hand.

Material and Methods: There were 8 taekwondo ITF practitioners included in the analysis. They adopted the same initial stance and performed the traditional straight punch. The tests were carried out with the use of a motion analysis laboratory called Human Motion Lab. The equipment used recorded the indicators specifying the spatial and time structure of the motion of the marker fastened to the subject’s fist.

Results: Duration of the strike 1.00 ±0.23 s; maximum velocity 8.05 ±1.59 m/s; acceleration of the strike 95.39 ±45.47 m/s²; acceleration of the braking 222.08 ±93.17 m/s². The peak velocity highly correlates with the acceleration of the punch (r = 0.81, p<0.01) and braking acceleration (r = 0.79, p<0.01). It is noticeable that the obtained acceleration of the strike does not affect the duration of the movement (r = 0.28, p<0.01). The more the acceleration of the strike increased, the higher the braking acceleration was (r = 0.65, p<0.01). The maximum velocity shows to have a moderate influence on the duration of the strike (r = 0.51, p<0.01).

Conclusions: For any of the recorded indicators no statistically significant differences were registered between the dominant and non-dominant hands during delivery of the traditional straight punch, which could indicate low lateralisation of the upper limbs in this particular movement task.

Key words: analysis of movement, ap jumok jirugi, biomechanical analysis, ITF, power test