Validity of an Interval Taekwondo-Specific Cardiopulmonary Exercise Test.

ABSTRACT: Araujo, MP, Soares, PP, Hausen, MR, Julio, HS, Porto, F, and Gurgel, JL. Validity of an interval taekwondo-specific cardiopulmonary exercise test. J Strength Cond Res 35(7): 1956-1963, 2021-The objective of this study is to propose and validate an interval taekwondo-specific cardiopulmonary exercise test (ITKDtest) and compare it with running cardiopulmonary exercise test (CPET) and a continuous taekwondo-specific cardiopulmonary exercise test (CTKDtest). Fifteen athletes (age 22 ± 4 years; body mass 71.1 ± 10.2 kg; height 178.14 ± 8.3 cm; and body mass index 22.4 ± 2.4 kg·m-2) performed CPET, CTKDtest, and ITKDtest on a counterbalanced order. Oxygen uptake (V̇o2), heart rate (HR), and ventilatory thresholds (VTs 1 and 2) were measured during the 3 tests. ITKDtest started at 30 kicks per minute and increased 10 kicks each 2 minutes, with a period of passive recovery, lasting 1 minute. Interval protocol design simulated the temporal structure of an official taekwondo fight. Significant difference between specific tests was found for V̇o2 VT1 (p = 0.03), V̇o2 VT1 (%V̇o2peak) (p = 0.009), V̇o2 VT2 (p = 0.005), and V̇o2 VT2 (%V̇o2peak) (p = 0.013). Reliability was considered "excellent" for V̇o2peak (α = 0.902; SEM = 0.179), "good" for V̇o2 VT1 (α = 0.708; SEM = 3.823) and HRpeak (α = 0.803; SEM = 2.987), and "fair" for V̇o2 VT2 (α = 0.659; SEM = 4.498) and HR VT2 (α = 0.580; SEM = 8.868). Bland-Altman analyses reported a mean difference of 2.9 ± 6.6 ml·kg-1·min-1 (CPET-ITKDtest) and 1.4 ± 6.1 ml·kg-1·min-1 (CTKDtest-ITKDtest). ITKDtest may be used for measurement of cardiorespiratory variables commonly used in exercise prescription, whereas CTKDtest seems to be a more appropriate method to assess V̇o2 and HR at VTs.

Proposal of a New Specific Cardiopulmonary Exercise Test for Taekwondo Athletes.

The objective of this study is to evaluate the cardiorespiratory variables of Taekwondo athletes while performing incremental exercise test on an ergometer using a ramp protocol and to propose a specific protocol for assessing these physiological variables during Taekwondo practice. Fourteen athletes participated in 2 incremental exercise tests: a treadmill exercise test (TREADtest) and a Taekwondo-specific exercise test (TKDtest). The TKDtest consists in 1-minute stages of kicks with an incremental load between then. The subjects perform kicks each time a sound signal was heard. Heart rate (HR), oxygen uptake (V[Combining Dot Above]O2), and their reserve correspondents (V[Combining Dot Above]O2R and reserve heart rate [HRR]) were divided into quartiles to verify their kinetics along the tests. Significant difference between 2 tests was found only for V[Combining Dot Above]O2R (p = 0.03). Regarding the quartiles, significant differences were found for HR in the first (p = 0.030) and second (p = 0.003). Analyzing the regression curves, significant differences were found for HR for intercept (p = 0.01) and slope (p = 0.05) and HRR for slope (p = 0.02). Analysis showed that significant reliability, with intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC), was found for the V[Combining Dot Above]O2peak (ICC = 0.855, p = 0.003), V[Combining Dot Above]O2 in ventilatory thresholds 1 (ICC = 0.709, p = 0.03) and 2 (ICC = 0.848, p = 0.003). Bland-Altman analyses reported a mean difference ± the 95% limits of agreement of 2.2 ± 8.4 ml·kg·min to V[Combining Dot Above]O2peak. The TKDtest is reliable for measurement of cardiorespiratory variables, and the behavior of these variables differs mainly from TREADtest, probably because of the motor task performed.