Karate aerobic capacity test

Development of a sports specific aerobic capacity test for karate - a pilot study

D. Nunan

Journal of Sports Science and Medicine (2006) 5 (CSSI), 47 - 53

The purpose of the study was to develop an aerobic fitness assessment test for 5 well-trained competitive karate practitioners and describe the preliminary findings. A protocol simulating common attack strikes used in competition karate sparring was developed from video analysis. The time to perform the strike sequence remained the same, while the time between strike sequence performances was progressively reduced. The aim of the test was to increase intensity of exercise through a decrease in recovery.

Conclusions. There was no significant between test difference in absolute VO2peak, relative VO2peak, HRM, and TE , indicating a potentially high reproducibility with the new test for these variables. However, VEpeak displayed potentially less reproducibility due to a significant difference observed between tests. There was a significant relationship between TE and relative VO2 peak.