COMPARISON OF SIMPLE VISUAL AND AUDIOTORY REACTION TIMES OF MARTIAL ARTS ATHLETES

Many fitness skills are required to be successful in martial arts sports. It is known that the reaction time is distinctive for performance in all martial arts, although the specific importance of different motoric features in sports branches is variable. The aim of this study is to compare simple visual and auditory reaction times of martial arts athletes. For this purpose, 48 male athletes between the ages of 15 and 25 who have been actively doing sports for at least 1 year in boxing, judo, karate, muay thai, kickboxing and taekwondo branches were voluntarily included in the study. Height, body weight, simple visual and auditory reaction time measurements were made by obtaining the age and year of starting sports of the athletes. There was no statistically significant difference between the visual and auditory reaction times according to the participants' age, body mass index and sports age variables (p<0.05). There was a statistically significant difference between the visual reaction times according to the success level variable of the participants, but no significant difference was found between the auditory reaction times (p<0.05). In terms of the sport branch variable of the participants, a statistically significant difference was found between the visual and auditory reaction times (p<0.05). Accordingly, it can be said that the visual reaction times of the athletes improve as the level of success increases, and the visual and auditory reaction times are more important in martial arts athletes (muay thai, karate taekwondo, kickboxing and boxing) where quickness, movement frequency and movement speed are important. As a result, it is thought that martial arts athletes who want to increase their level of success should include reaction time studies in their training programs. However, it is suggested that it would be beneficial to apply such studies to larger groups and to include women.   Article visualizations: