The Relationship Between Body Compositions of Taekwondo Practitioners Aged 14-16 and Their Aerobic Endurance

Background: Taekwondo (TKD) is a combat sport practiced by millions of children, young people and adults around the world.1 It is an Olympic sports branch with many complex features and constant interaction between two opponents in the competitions, where attack-contact techniques are applied quickly, attacking techniques are strong2,3 but also have good flexibility. Aim: This study has been carried out to identify the relationship between body composition of taekwondo practitioners aged 14-16 who regularly practice taekwondo, and their aerobic endurance. Methods: A total of 33 registered taekwondo practitioners (17 male, 16 female) participated to this study on a voluntary basis. The age, height, weight, and body mass index of all the athletes who took part in the study are 14.96 +/- 0.80 years, 162.59 +/- 11.59 cm, 50.97 +/- 7.51 kg and 19.14 +/- 2.39 kg/m(2) respectively. The group who participated to the study practice taekwondo two days a week, for 2 hours each, for a period of 1.5 years. The aerobic endurance of taekwondo athletes was measured by 20-meter-long Shuttle Run Test. In order to measure the body composition values of the athletes, measurements of skinfold thickness (biceps, triceps, subscapula, subrailiac) were carried out. In calculating the body density, the formula of Durning-Womersley was used; and in calculating the body fat percentage, the formula of Siri was employed. Data was evaluated by SPSS 22.0. The normality distribution of the data obtained at the end of the study was evaluated by Kolmogorov-Smirnov test and it was observed that the data was in line with normal distribution. Following the normalcy assessment, the relationship between body compositions and aerobic endurances was determined by Pearson Correlation analysis. Results: It is possible to say that the body composition values of taekwondo practitioners aged 14-16 have positive and negative impact on their aerobic endurance. It is observed that as the values 20-meter Shuttle Run test increases, fat percentage of athletes decreases. Conclusion: It is concluded that the findings obtained from the research results support the literature, and that body composition and aerobic capacity are important as performance criteria in many studies. It is thought that it may be beneficial for the athletes to perform aerobic endurance exercises during the annual training periods to perform the necessary practices to optimize their body composition and improve their aerobic capacity.