Content area
Full Text
Abstract. Forty light weight and forty medium weight Indian male boxers (age: 19-24 yrs) were selected for the study to evaluate their fitness profile parameters and to compare the data with their sedentary control group (n=40, age: 21 -25 yrs) and their national and overseas counterparts. Boxer groups had significantly higher (p<0.05) values of absolute and relative VO^sub 2max^, flexibility, VJT scores, body density, % lean body mass (LBM) and significantly lower (p<0.05) values of pre-exercise heart rate, diastolic blood pressure, high intensity effort (HIE), agility, fat mass and %fat compared to their sedentary counterparts. The light weight boxers (LWB) showed significant differences in body weight, BMI, BSA and LBM when compared against the sedentary control group. Significant intra-group variation for LWB and middle weight Boxers (MWB) were seen in case of body weight, BMI, BSA, BD, FM, % fat, % LBM, absolute VO^sub 2max^ and VJT scores. Correlation statistic revealed significant relationship of motor fitness parameters, absolute VO^sub 2max^ and relative VO^sub 2max^ with physical parameters and different components of body composition in all the three groups and accordingly the group specific regression equations have been computed for the prediction of different fitness parameter from the concerned morphological parameter. It can be concluded from the study that boxing training improved the fitness profile in LWB and MWB. LWB and MWB had significant intra-group difference in some fitness parameters probably due to the difference in their training modules. Present database will act as a reference to promote and improve boxing training among eastern Indian boxers and the regression norms would help to predict the fitness profile parameters in the studied population.
Key words: boxing, fitness, VO2max, agility, lean body mass.
(ProQuest: ... denotes formulae omitted.)
Introduction
Boxing is an intermittent sport characterized by short duration, high intensity bursts of activity involving the interplay of anaerobic (70%-80%) and aerobic (20%-30%) energy systems (1-3). It is classified into light (<54 kg), medium (<64 kg) and medium heavy (<75 kg) weight categories. The primary aim of conditioning for boxing is to delay the onset of fatigue by increasing tolerance of lactic acid build-up, escalating the ATP and CP, for improving the efficiency of oxygen usage, and to better the recovery between intense bursts of activities (4)....