Acute neuromuscular responses to short and long roundhouse kick striking paces in professional Muay Thai fighters.

BACKGROUND: Muay Thai fighters strongly rely on the use of the roundhouse kick due to its effectiveness (i.e. power) and implications on the final score. Therefore, different striking tempos at full power are used during training as a method to enhance kicking power. However, the neuromuscular responses are unknown. Thus, the goal of this study was to investigate neuromuscular responses to a single bout of shorter (every second = H1) and longer (every 3 s = H3) kick striking time intervals, measured with the countermovement jump (CMJ).

METHODS: Nine professional Muay Thai fighters participated in this randomized, cross-over trial. CMJs were measured on force plates before and after (at 0, 5, 10, 20, and 30 minutes) two striking (1 set ×20 reps) conditions (H1; H3).

RESULTS: Although no difference was observed between H1 and H3 values, neuromuscular fatigue parameters displayed different patterns over time. CMJ height decreased immediately after H3 striking (P<0.05), whereas for H1 condition CMJ height decreased from 20 minutes as compared to baseline (P<0.05). Peak force in H3 condition was significantly lower at 10, 20, and 30 minutes as compared to baseline. For H1, peak force values were lower than baseline only at 30 minutes. Peak power was significantly lower than baseline for both middle kick procedures. A slight but significant increase was observed at 5 minutes for H3 condition but decreased further at 10 minutes and remained constant during subsequent tests. In contrast, for H1 condition, peak power remained unaffected after 10 minutes, whereas it decreased at 20 and 30 minutes only when compared to minute 0.

CONCLUSIONS: Results showed that both kick striking modes provoke comparable neuromuscular fatigue but H3 condition showed the potential to induce post activation potentiation. Muay Thai and conditioning coaches should focus on hard striking with both long and slow pacing during specific heavy bag or pad work.