Recent studies demonstrate a slowdown in deterioration of cognitive functioning in old age through aerobic training. There is evidence that the combination of aerobic, balance, and coordination ...exercises leads to an improvement or maintenance of cognitive functions. Such age-related exercises can especially be found in East Asian martial arts. The purpose of the current study is to verify whether karate training for older adults improves cognitive functioning and, if an improvement can be found, which cognitive fields are influenced.
Eighty-nine older women and men (mean age: 70 years) participated in this study. The participants were randomized into 2 intervention groups (karate group and fitness group, duration of intervention: 5 months) and a control group. All participants had to accomplish a cognitive test battery before and after the intervention. In a secondary study the karate group had an additional intervention for another 5 months.
The results show that there is a significant improvement in motor reactivity, stress tolerance, and divided attention only after the 5-month karate training period. Additionally, the results of the secondary study indicate further improvements after 10 months.
The 5-month karate training can help to enhance attention, resilience, and motor reaction time, but a training period of 10 months is even more efficient.
Virtual reality (VR) training has become valuable in sports to improve motor behavior and train specific situations under standardized conditions. However, studies comparing conventional training ...with VR training are rare, especially for advanced athletes. Furthermore, it remains unclear whether the performance improvement achieved through VR training can be transferred to the real world (RW). Therefore, we present a study analyzing sports-specific response training using a head-mounted display (HMD) combined with conventional training and its transfer to RW. In ten training sessions over 6 weeks, a VR training group (VRG,
n
= 15) performed virtual karate training (10 min) combined with a conventional training (80 min), while a conventional training group (CG,
n
= 12) conducted only conventional training (90 min) at the same time. The VR training consisted of the athlete responding to various karate attacks performed by a virtual opponent in a karate-specific manner. The study design included a pretest, an intermediate test (after 5 training sessions), and a posttest. We analyzed sports-specific response behavior concerning the competition-relevant karate attacks Gyaku-Zuki jodan (GZj) and Kizami-Zuki (KZ) using the parameters ‘response time’, and the “response quality” when the athletes had to react to attacks of a virtual opponent in VR and a real opponent in RW. For the parameter “response time,” improvements were detected only for the VRG in VR concerning GZj and KZ. For the parameter “response quality” for both groups, no improvements could be found. Furthermore, athletes provided positive feedback regarding the integration of VR training into conventional training.
Background：Recent studies demonstrate a slowdown in deterioration of cognitive functioning in old age through aerobic training.There is evidence that the combination of aerobic,balance,and ...coordination exercises leads to an improvement or maintenance of cognitive functions.Such age-related exercises can especially be found in East Asian martial arts.The purpose of the current study is to verify whether karate training for older adults improves cognitive functioning and,if an improvement can be found,which cognitive field are influenced Methods：Eighty-nine older women and men（mean age：70 years） participated in this study.The participants were randomized into 2 intervention groups（karate group and fitnes group,duration of intervention：5 months） and a control group.All participants had to accomplish a cognitive test battery before and after the intervention.In a secondary study the karate group had an additional intervention for another 5 months.Results：The results show that there is a significan improvement in motor reactivity,stress tolerance,and divided attention only after the 5-month karate training period.Additionally,the results of the secondary study indicate further improvements after 10 months.Conclusion：The 5-month karate training can help to enhance attention,resilience,and motor reaction time,but a training period of 10 months is even more efficient
The aim was to study if sports-specific reaction training using immersive virtual reality improves the response behavior of karate athletes. During ten sessions, 15 experienced young karate athletes ...responded to upcoming attacks of a virtual opponent. On one hand, in PRE and POST tests, we examined the sports-specific response behavior using the time for response (time between a defined starting point and the first reaction), response accuracy (according to a score system), and kind of response (direct attack or a blocking movement) based on a movement analysis. On the other hand, we analyzed the unspecific response behavior using the reaction time and motor response time based on the reaction test of the Vienna test system. Friedman tests with subsequent Dunn–Bonferroni post-hoc tests and one-factorial ANOVAs showed no significant differences (
p
> 0.05) in the unspecific parameters. However, significant improvements (
p
< 0.05) of the sports-specific parameters were found, leading to a higher increase within the intervention groups (large effects) compared to the control groups (small and moderate effects in time for response, and no significant effects in response quality). It can be concluded that VR training is useful to improve response behavior in young karate athletes.
Anticipation is an important performance factor in karate kumite. A new approach analysing anticipation in realistic combat situations by motion capturing with a high temporal resolution is ...presented. The advantage of this approach is that both karate athletes interacting sports specific can be recorded synchronously; thus, the presented method has the potential to analyse visual information pickup due to coordination pattern of interaction between real athletes. The aim is to demonstrate the usability of the current method for anticipation research and to investigate if the distance between two athletes and their attacking technique play a role in the reaction of the defending athlete. Furthermore, relevant cues lying within each attacking technique and little individual differences are shown. Four male karate athletes took part in this study. Logistic regression indicated that both factors (distance × attacking technique) play a significant role in reaction. However, a correlation between these factors shows that only the attacking technique is a good predictor for reaction. Results show that the attacking technique jabbing punch (jap. Kizami-Zuki) was easier to anticipate than the attacking techniques reverse punch (jap. Gyaku-Zuki) and the round kick (jap. Mawashi-Geri).
We conducted a virtual reality (VR) training with ten sessions, performed by fifteen young karate athletes, who responded to attacks of a virtual opponent to improve their response behavior and their ...decision-making. The control groups continued with their normal training. Results of the Friedman tests with subsequent Dunn-Bonferroni post-hoc-tests and estimation of effect sizes showed that the karate specific response behavior (measured by a movement analysis) improved significantly due to the training. The parameters time for response (as the time for the attack initiation) and response quality improved with large effect sizes for the intervention groups, whereas the control groups demonstrated improvements with only small effect sizes. The unspecific response behavior (analyzed by two forms of the reaction test of the Vienna test system) did not show any significant changes. Paired t-tests revealed an improvement in attack recognition. While in the pretests, the intervention groups responded to late movement stages of the attack (execution of the main phase), they responded to early movement stages (reduction of distance and preparing steps) in the posttests. Furthermore, Friedman-tests and bivariate correlation analysis showed that the intervention groups were highly motivated to perform the VR training because of the new and safe learning conditions.
Background
Demographic changes resulting in an aging population are major factors for an increase of fall-related injuries. Especially in situations where dual tasks such as walking whilst talking ...have to be performed simultaneously the risk of a fall-related injury increases. It is well known that some types of martial art (e.g. Tai Chi) can reduce the risk of a fall. It is unknown if the same is true for karate.
Aim and methods
In this randomized, controlled study 68 people with a mean age of 69 years underwent 5-month karate training, 5-month fitness training or were part of a control group. Before and after the time of intervention a gait analysis with normal walk, a cognitive dual task and a motor dual task were performed. The gait parameter step frequency, walking speed, single-step time and single-step length were investigated.
Results
It could be seen that all groups improved their gait parameters after a 5-month period, even the control group. A sporty intervention seems to affect mainly the temporal gait parameters positively. This effect was especially demonstrated for normal walk and cognitive dual task.
Conclusions
An improvement of the human walk seems to be possible through karate and fitness training, even under dual-task conditions. A prolonged intervention time with multiple repetitions of gait analysis could give better evidence if karate is a useful tool to increase fall prevention.
Single biomechanical parameters or characteristics cannot reflect the complexity of movements in sport. For this reason the paper introduces a procedure to visualize the movement pattern on the basis ...of the relevant movement angles to get a visual impression of the holistic movement. This procedure was applied to the karate kick mae-geri (front kick) which was executed by five athletes. By means of this method it was possible to identify similarities and differences in coordination between the movements of the individual karatekas. In addition, statistical analyses (coefficient of variability, Pearson’s correlation coefficient and Euclidean distances) were used to confirm this and to determine the most stable angles in performance.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, FSPLJ, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
PDF
