Postgraduate student A.F. Zekrin
Professor, Ph.D. F.Kh. Zekrin
Associate professor, Ph.D. V.V. Zebzeev
Tchaikovsky State Institute of Physical Culture, Tchaikovsky

Keywords: anthropometric characteristics, junior judokas of light, medium and heavy weight classes.

Introduction. In the theory and practice of wrestling specialists and trainers are always looking for effective ways to achieve high results in sport within the shortest period of time and with least possible trouble. It becomes more difficult to solve this problem due to the fact that the current level of development of sport places high demands on the quality of training in judo at various phases of a multi-year training process. Fights are characterized by high intensity of technical and tactical actions, requiring from athletes maximum muscular efforts and ability to exercise them in a rapidly changing situation [4, 5].

Currently it is impossible to imagine any improvement of the fighters' training methods without using an individual-typological approach in the training process. In judo, this approach is implemented by trainers who classify judokas according to their fighting style. For example, experts point out the ability of judokas to fight in a standing or in a parterre position, thus identifying "standing" and "parterre" wrestlers. However, some highly skilled athletes are showing signs of universalism. As a rule, the wrestlers, who can fight equally well in the standing and in the parterre positions, are called "universals". In addition, "standing" wrestlers can be "pursuers" (in the parterre zone after executing a throw) and "blockers" (in response to the opponent's hold of any kind). The "parterre" wrestlers are divided into those "dragging down" (those actively bringing the fight down in parterre) and "responding" (successfully counterattacking in the parterre zone after falling down) [2]. There is a widespread stylistic division and classification of fighters according to their technical, tactical and functional preferences, based on this, judokas are divided into nage-waza, katame-waza and atemi-waza [3, 4].

Recently, however, some experts, while improving different aspects of athletes’ fitness, consider it appropriate to classify judokas based on their anthropometric and morphological characteristics, as they seem to be an important factor in the formation of a judoka's individual technical and tactical skills [6]. Their high heritability results in the high predictive value in the individualization of sports training [1], which is particularly important in the training of judokas 17-19 of age. That is the when the foundation of different forms of physical, technical, tactical and psychological training is being laid, based on which athletes achieve results at competitions. The age of 17-19 is considered a junior age, so the further adaptation and transition of junior judokas to adult sport will largely depend on the quality of training carried out in this period. [4].

Currently the majority of experts divide all judokas into three morphological groups, "lightweights", "middleweights" and "heavyweights". For example, "lightweights" are judokas of the weight class of 60 and 66 kg,"middleweights" - 73 and 81 kg, "heavyweights" - 90, 100 and over 100 kg. The data on the anthropometric peculiarities of judokas of different weight classes, that could meet modern demands of trainers, have not been found in the theoretical and methodical literature.

The purpose of the study was to identify the anthropometric characteristics of judokas of light, middle and heavy weight classes.

Materials and methods. The experimental research was conducted in the laboratory of the Federal Training Centre (FTC) for winter sports (WS) "Snezhinka", part of the organizational structure of Tchaikovsky State Institute of Physical Culture. The experiment was attended by 30 judokas aged 17-19 years, athletes of the sports club "Judo" in Tchaikovsky, ranked candidates for master of sport and masters of sport. The subjects involved in the study were divided into three groups of 10 subjects each: lightweight - 60, 66 kg, middleweight - 73 and 81 kg, heavyweight - 90, 100 and over 100 kg.

The anthropometric characteristics of judokas of different weight classes were determined by means of the morphological scanner “BodyScaner”, used to obtain a three-dimensional model of an athlete's body (Fig. 1) for studies related to visualization, processing and assessment of 3D scanning data.  

3D body model of heavyweight wrestler

3D body model of middleweight wrestler

3D body model of lightweight wrestler

Fig. 1. Examples of three-dimensional anthropometric body models of judokas of different weight classes

Thanks to this device one can save the resulting three-dimensional model of a person and use it for measurement of more than 140 anthropometric characteristics, making it more convenient as compared to mechanical methods of measurement of similar characteristics. The “BodyScaner” software includes a number of functions that create high-quality visual effects for the 3D models such as: texture color, five modes of surface rendering, rotation and scaling of 3D models, different lighting options, etc. Moreover, its virtual instruments are modeled based on mechanical (physical) tools used in traditional anthropometry and are used to measure virtually any size attribute on the human figure using: segment representation of 3D models; a system of markers (reference points); direct, successive and curved measurements of body length of the subject; angle and girth measurements; any number of active windows; customizable measurement schemes; graphic documentation of screened files; data output in a format compatible with Excel; combining the results of different scans in a single document.

Table 1. Anthropometric characteristics of junior judokas of different weight classes

Results and discussion. Results of the study of the anthropometric characteristics are presented in Table 1. On this basis, we can conclude that the anthropometric models of heavyweight judokas were much bigger in comparison with those of the fighters of middle and light weight classes in the following indicators: “height” (“heavyweight” - 180,6 cm, “middleweight” - 173,6 cm, “lightweight” - 164,8 cm), “average neck girth” (“heavyweight” - 42,5 cm, “middleweight” - 36,7 cm, “lightweight” - 36,3 cm), “chest girth” (“heavyweight” - 112,7 cm, “middleweight” - 96 cm, “lightweight” - 86,5 cm), “waist girth” (“heavyweight” - 96,4 cm, “middleweight” - 78,1 cm, “lightweight” - 73,3 cm), “hip girth” (“heavyweight” - 110,3 cm, “middleweight” - 95,7 cm, “lightweight” - 89,4 cm), “average wrist girth” (“heavyweight” - 18,8 cm, “middleweights” - 16,9 cm, “lightweight” - 16,2 cm), “left thigh girth” (“heavyweight” - 64 cm, “middleweight”- 55,6 cm, “lightweight” - 51,5 cm), “right thigh girth” (“heavyweight” - 65,6 cm, “middleweight” - 55,6 cm, “lightweight” - 51,4 cm).

However, there weren't observed any significant differences in some anthropometric indicators in judokas of different weight classes: “average neck girth” (“middleweight” - 36,7 cm, “lightweight” - 36,3 cm), “left hand length” (“heavyweight” - 61,5 cm, “middleweight” - 61,2 cm), “right hand length” (“heavyweight” - 62,3 cm, “middleweight” - 61,2 cm), “average wrist girth” (“middleweight” - 16,9 cm, “lightweight” - 16,2 cm), “left leg length” (“heavyweight” - 79,6 cm, “middleweight” - 79,4 cm), “right leg length” (“heavyweight” - 79,1 cm, “middleweight” - 79 cm).

Conclusion. The anthropometric characteristics of judokas of different weight classes detected using the morphological scanner can be used by training instructors to improve the technical and tactical skills of judokas they train. At the same time the method we used in the assessment of anthropometric characteristics has shown significant advantages (speed, highly informative content, ability to work with three-dimensional model of the human body) compared with mechanical means of the body measurements. However, the data obtained need further studying (that would involve more subjects) and comparison with similar results.                

References

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2. Dzyudo. Sistema i bor'ba: uchebnik dlya SDYuShOR, vuzov fizkul'tury (Judo. System and wrestling: textbook for specialized children and youth sports school of the Olympic reserve, universities of physical culture) / Ed. by Yu.A. Shulika, Ya.K. Koblev. – Rostov-on-Don: Fenix, 2006. – 800 P.
3. Zebzeev, V.V. Analiz sostava tela dzyudoistov-yuniorov, predstavlyayushchikh raznye stili vedeniya sorevnovatel'nogo poedinka (Analysis of body composition of junior judokas representing different styles of conduct of competitive match) / V.V. Zebzeev, F.Kh. Zekrin, O.S. Zdanovich // Nauka i sport: sovremennyie tendentsii. – 2014. – № 3. – P. 69–74.
4. Zebzeev, V.V. Osobennosti podgotovki dzyudoistov-yuniorov raznyih stiley vedeniya sorevnovatel'nogo poedinka (Features of training of junior judokas with different styles of conduct of competitive matches) / V.V. Zebzeev, O.S. Zdanovich // Vestnik Chelyabinskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta. Series «Obrazovanie i zdravookhranenie". – 2013. – № 1. – P. 38–47.
5. Zekrin, F.Kh. Organizatsiya i metodika spetsial'noy fizicheskoy podgotovki dzyudoistov 15-18-letnego vozrasta: avtoref. dis. … kand. ped. nauk (Organization and technology of special physical training of judokas aged 15-18 years: abstract of Ph.D. thesis) / F.Kh. Zekrin. – Moscow: VNIIFK, 2007. – 23 P.
6. Kolomeychuk, A.A. Individualizatsiya tekhniko-takticheskoy podgotovki bortsov vol'nogo stilya na osnove ucheta ikh morfologicheskikh osobennostey: avtoref. dis. … kand. ped. nauk (Individualization of technical and tactical training of freestyle wrestlers based on their morphological features: abstract of Ph.D. thesis) / A.A. Kolomeychuk. – Moscow, 2011. – 24 P.

Corresponding author: zekrin_artem@mail.ru