Abstract
M.Phil. (Sport Science)
All sports require the body to perform optimally with reference to physical
characteristics, physiology and biomechanics. Therefore, athletes are required to
possess physiques suited to the functional requirements of the sport they engage in.
Moreover, in sporting activities such as karate, where athletes compete in welldefined
weight categories, a weight increase due to accumulation of fat may lead to
poor athletic performance in relation to inter alia pain threshold, speed, energy
requirement, frequency of injury, health, flexibility, muscular strength and endurance,
cardiorespiratory fitness, conditioning and fitness, recovery rate and/or attitude. This
necessitates the need for studies to analyse anthropometric profiles of karate that
can be utilised as a reference for athletes, coaches and conditioning specialists.
Problematically, whilst there is increasing data forthcoming in top-performing karate
countries, there is minimal research available on the kinanthropometric attributes of
the South African karateka population. As such, the aim of this study was to
establish kinanthropometric attributes of South African male athletes participating in
karate between the ages of 18-65. Kinanthropometric data were collected from 101
male karate athletes that were purposively sampled from the South African
Japanese Karate Association (JKA) population. Kinanthropometric assessments
included stature, cormic index, body mass, body mass index (BMI), body surface
area (BSA), body fat percent (BF%), sum of six skinfolds (ΣSF), fat mass, lean body
mass (LBM), elbow and knee breadths, biceps, calf, waist and hip circumferences,
waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), waist-to-stature ratio (WSR), sagittal abdominal diameter
(SAD), conicity index, adiposity body shape index (ABSI), body adiposity index (BAI)
and somatotype. Analysis of the data revealed a significant (p≤0.05) improvement in
BAI in the national 26-45 year-old group (20.52±3.99) when compared to the 46-65
year-old group (16.94±2.07; p=0.027). In the international group, significant
differences were found in a) the 18-25 year-old’s body mass (73.39±8.47) when
compared to the 26-45 year-old group (80.94±8.00; p=0.006), b) the 18-25 year-old’s
BSA (1.87±0.13) when compared to the 26-45 group (1.98±0.12) (p=0.015), c) the
26-45 year-old group’s elbow breadth (6.74±0.43cm) when compared to the 46-65
year-old group (6.18±0.51cm; p=0.006), d) the 18-25 year-old group’s waist
circumference to the 46-65 year-old group (85.30±9.66cm; p=0.016), e) the 18-25
year-old group’s hip circumference when compared to the 46-65 year-old groups...