Dr.Hab., Professor G.V. Rudenko¹
Dr.Biol., Professor M.G. Tkachuk²
V.A. Dorofeev^1
1St. Petersburg Mining University, St. Petersburg
²Lesgaft National State University of Physical Education, Sport and Health, St. Petersburg

Keywords: anthropometry, taekwondo, karate, judo, model characteristics.

Background. Each sports specialization has its specific requirements for the model characteristics of highly–skilled athletes. Therefore, along with the general criteria of the aptitude for sports, there is a need to use specific morphological parameters highly informative in predicting the competitive performance in a particular sport. The morphofunctional characteristics of combat athletes have been studied by many authors [1, 2, 5-7]. Most of the works are devoted to the genetic basis of athletic training, an adequate choice of sports specialization, and style of competitive activity. At the same time, modern model characteristics of top-class athletes are still poorly studied, and comparative analysis of the morphological parameters and the level of sports mastery in various types of combat sports is lacking.
Objective of the study was to conduct a comparative analysis of morphological indicators determining the competitive success in taekwondo, karate and judo.
Methods and structure of the study. Sampled for the study were the 18-25 year-old athletes specializing in taekwondo, karate and judo (n=126), middle weight class, with sports qualifications not lower than I senior rank (main massif), of which 38 athletes - masters of sports, members of the national teams of St. Petersburg, participants of international competitions ("successful" athletes). Their experience in martial arts was 10 years on the average. The athletes regularly competed in sports competitions (Table 1).

Table 1. Characteristics of the experimental subjects

We measured the following anthropometric characteristics of the subjects: body mass and body length, its partial, circumferential and transverse dimensions, skin-fat thickness. The athletes’ physique type was evaluated using the Bunak method [4].
Results and discussion. With the same body mass, "successful" athletes differ from the majority of martial artists by the larger partial, transverse and circumferential body dimensions, as well as by the larger body-weight ratio. The correlation analysis of anthropometric characteristics and sports qualifications revealed the following relationships (Table 2). For karatekas, the significant morphological indicators are as follows: leg and arm length, shoulder and forearm circumference, and the acromial diameter. For taekwondokas - trunk and lower leg length, thigh and lower leg circumferences, and iliopectineal diameter. For judokas – chest, shoulder and thigh circumferences, diameters of the distal epiphyses of the thigh and lower leg.
The data obtained can be used as morphological indicators in forecasting the success of competitive activity in the martial arts in question.

Table 2. Correlation relationships between anthropometric characteristics and sports qualifications in different types of martial artses revealed that 42.5% of "successful" athletes belonged to the muscular body type, 26.1% - thoracic body type, 10.5% - digestive body type, and 20.9% - undefined. As for the majority of the athletes, 35.7% belonged to the muscular morphotype, 24.0% - thoracic, 19.5%  digestive, and 20.8% - undefined. According to the literature data, the degree of manifestation of the mesomorphic somatotype and high values of the muscular component of body mass are significant criteria for rapid training in sambo [5]. To test the hypothesis about the relationship between the factor of success in martial arts and the muscular somatotype, a contingency table 2 × 2 was compiled [3]. The calculated value of the χ2 criterion indicated that the relationship between the achievement of high sports results in martial arts and the muscular body type display degree is not confirmed at the significance level of 0.05. Therefore, we found that belonging to the muscular somatotype is not a prerequisite for achieving a high sport skill level in the martial arts in question.

Conclusions. Among the morphological indicators of successful competitive activity are: in karate – leg and arm length (p<0.05), shoulder (p<0.05) and forearm circumference (p<0.01), acromial diameter (p<0.05); in taekwondo - body length (p<0.05) and shin length (p<0.01), thigh and shin circumference (p<0.05), iliopectineal diameter (p<0.01); in judo – chest (p<0.01), shoulder and thigh (p<0.05) circumferences, distal femoral (p<0.01) and tibial (p<0.05) epiphysis diameters.
The data obtained can be used as morphological indicators in forecasting competitive success in martial arts.

References

1. Afanasieva I.A. Genetic features of taekwondo trainability and their sports selection. St. Petersburg: [s.n.], 2004. 96 p.
2. Bakulev S.E., Tajmazov V.A. Genealogical basics for predicting success of competitive activities of martial artists. Uchenye zapiski universiteta im. P.F. Lesgafta. 2006. no. 19. pp. 7-15.
3. Barnikova I.E., Samsonova A.V. Information technology in personal data processing in pedagogy and sport biomechanics. Study guide. St. Petersburg: [s.n.], 2017. 103 p.
4. Bunak V.V. Anthropometry: practical course. M.:  Uchpedgiz publ., 1941. 376 p.
5. Kuvanov V.A., Korostelev E.N., Zaytsev A.V. Muscle tone control in sports wrestling. Teoriya i praktika fiz. kultury, 2018, no. 4, pp. 57-59.
6. Sobolev A.A., Tkachuk M.G., Levitskiy A.A. Morphological and functional criteria for fast trainability of sambo wrestlers. Uchenye zapiski universiteta im. P.F. Lesgafta. 2018 no. 7. pp. 247-250.
7. Tkachuk M.G., Dyusenova A.A., Hyun Chzhu Li Relationship between morphological and psychological characteristics of athletes. Modern aspects of fundamental and applied morphology. Proc. nat. scientific conf. ded. 100th anniv. prof. M.G. Prives. St. Petersburg, 2004. pp. 230-231.

Corresponding author: gena391@mail.ru

Abstract
Objective of the study was to conduct a comparative analysis of morphological indicators determining the competitive success in taekwondo, karate and judo.
Methods and structure of the study. Sampled for the study were the 18-25 year-old athletes specializing in taekwondo, karate and judo (n=126), middle weight class, with sports qualifications not lower than I senior rank (main massif), of which 38 athletes - masters of sports, members of the national teams of St. Petersburg, participants of international competitions ("successful" athletes). Their experience in martial arts was on the average 10 years. We measured the following anthropometric indicators of the subjects: body mass and body length, its partial, circumferential and transverse dimensions, skin-fat thickness. The athletes’ physique type was evaluated using the Bunak method.
Results and conclusions. With the same body mass, "successful" athletes differ from the majority of martial artists by the larger partial, transverse and circumferential body dimensions, as well as by the larger body-weight ratio. The correlation analysis of anthropometric characteristics and sports qualifications revealed the following relationships (Table 2). For karatekas, the significant morphological indicators are as follows: leg and arm length, shoulder and forearm circumference, and the acromial diameter. For taekwondokas - trunk and lower leg length, thigh and lower leg circumferences, and iliopectineal diameter. For judokas – chest, shoulder and thigh circumferences, diameters of the distal epiphyses of the thigh and lower leg.
All athletes had a muscular constitutional type; however, belonging to this somatotype is not a prerequisite for achieving a high level of sports mastery in martial arts. The findings can be used as morphological indicators in forecasting the success of competitive activity in martial arts.