Impact of target selection on front kick kinematics in taekwondo– pilot study

• Main Authors: Jacek Wąsik, Tomasz Góra
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: PPHU Projack 2016-06-01
• Series: Physical Activity Review
• Subjects: kicking velocity; precision; dynamic balancing; taekwon-do; movement analysis; kicks kinematics
• Online Access: http://www.physactiv.eu/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/2016_7.pdf

Velocity and accuracy of strike are important factors that help in achieving victory. The question is if the targetselection can have an impact on the strike kinematics. The topic is especially important in the case of thetraditional taekwon-do, in which a single kick might decide who the winner is. The aim of the paper is knowledgeabout the influence of the target on the kinematic factors of the front kick technique. In this study, a PolishTaekwon-do Championship runner-up was examined. The taekwon-do athlete (age: 28 years; body mass: 68 kg;height: 172 cm) is holding a 2nd degree, Motion analysis and data processing was prepared in HML (HumanMotion Lab) using 10 NIR Vicon MX-T40 cameras with the acquisition speed of 100 to 2000 frames per second atfull frame resolution of 4 megapixels. During the research various measurements were collected to performdimensional analysis of foot and knee movement, describing their velocity changes as a function of time. Thefollowing strike speeds were recorded. No physical target: dominant leg foot 12.25 ± 0.18 m/s, non-dominant legfoot 13,92 ± 0,87 m/s. Small ball target/Punching ball: dominant leg foot 10,27 ± 0,29 m/s, non-dominant leg foot10,03 ± 0,15 m/s. Kicking Shield/Shield: dominant leg foot 11,17 ± 0,34 m/s, non-dominant leg foot 10,06 ± 0,46m/s. The quickest strike was registered when the athlete had no physical target in front of him. No focus on thetarget caused the fastest results. The shield target provoked a stronger and slower strike, as the speed has beenslightly slower than in the non-target situation. The velocity of the foot was reduced the most when the mostprecision was needed. Aiming into a little ball caused the biggest speed to decrease the most. The main conclusionis that the more precision is needed, the more speed decrease will be observed