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Physiological responses and match analysis of Muay Thai fighting

Article  in  International Journal of Performance Analysis in Sport · December 2012

DOI: 10.1080/24748668.2012.11868615

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International Journal of Performance Analysis in Sport
2012, 12, 507-516.

Physiological responses and match analysis of Muay

Thai fighting
Ivo Cappai1,2, Emanuela Pierantozzi2, Enrico Tam2, Filippo Tocco1, Luca Angius1,
Raffaele Milia1, Salvatore Squatrito2, Alberto Concu1, Antonio Crisafulli1

1
The Department of Medical Science, Sport Physiology Lab., University of Cagliari
(Italy)
2
The Department of Human and General Physiology, University of Bologna, Bologna
(Italy).

Abstract

This study was devised to measure certain physiological variables related

to the energy requirement together with a match analysis during real
Muay Thai matches. Twenty skilled male fighters were recruited and
performed a laboratory incremental preliminary test to assess their
maximum oxygen uptake and anaerobic threshold. They were then
involved in real Muay Thai competitions. During matches heart rate (HR)
and blood lactate (BLa) values were collected. Moreover, matches were
filmed and analysed for subsequent determination of the techniques used.
Differences between winners and losers were assessed. During matches
HR was on average 178.9±0.3 bpm (i.e. close to the maximum level
reached during the preliminary test), while BLa was 9.72±0.6 mmol•L-1.
There was no difference in HR and BLa responses between winners and
losers. Winners and losers used a similar number of techniques. However,
the effectiveness of attacks was higher in winners. This investigation
provides evidence that during Muay Thai the lactic anaerobic system is
widely recruited and that the cardiovascular apparatus is highly stressed
with no difference between winners and losers. Moreover, successful
athletes use the same number of techniques as losers, although with
greater effectiveness, thus indicating that the training strategy should aim
at developing high technical skills.

Key words: physiological cost, blood lactate, heart rate, human

performance.

1. Introduction

Muay Thai (also known as Thai boxing) is a martial art which falls within the
classification of intermittent physical activities, with both aerobic and anaerobic
energetic systems recruited, as shown by a recent study dealing with the energetic
demands in simulated Muay Thai matches (Crisafulli et al. 2009). In that investigation a

507
constant increase in heart rate (HR) was found throughout rounds. Moreover, the excess
of carbon dioxide production, an indirect estimate of blood lactate (BLa) accumulation
(Anderson and Rhodes, 1989; Hirakoba et al., 1996) reached high values during the
simulated matches, thus suggesting the recruitment of this anaerobic energetic system.
Yet, oxygen uptake (VO2) was always above the level of the anaerobic threshold (AT)
and approached the level of the maximum oxygen uptake (VO2max) previously assessed
during an incremental laboratory test. On the basis of these findings (i.e. elevated excess
of carbon dioxide production, VO2 above the level of AT and close to 90% of VO2max)
the authors concluded that Muay Thai was a physically demanding activity with great
involvement of both the aerobic metabolism and anaerobic glycolysis. The authors
reached this conclusion also considering previous research that examined the production
of lactate over a wide range of power outputs. In detail, it was observed that anaerobic
glycolysis was involved in ATP re-synthesis already at a workload corresponding to
65% of VO2max and that at 90% of VO2max, lactate production became much higher than
at rest in order to sustain the ATP production (Spriet et al., 2000). Furthermore, it was
reported that glycolysis leading to lactate formation is initiated within the first seconds
of heavy efforts to sustain energy requirements (Gaitanos et al., 1993; Hargreaves et al.,
1998; Hirvonen et al., 1987), thus suggesting a key role of this energy system during
efforts close to maximum.

Although Muay Thai is gaining popularity worldwide, there are very few investigations
that focus on this martial art. To the best of our knowledge the cited study by Crisafulli
and co-workers (2009) is, to date, the only one dealing with the energetic demand in this
fighting activity. However, it is to be considered that the aforementioned study suffered
from some limitations. In fact, because of technical reasons, the authors could not assess
the energetic demand of a real Muay Thai match. Instead, measures were taken during
simulated fighting by means of a portable metabolic system. This device clearly caused
some   limitations   and   discomfort   in   athletes’   movements   because   of   the   mask   and   the  
harness. This fact probably affected both the metabolic demands and the technique used.
Hence, this procedure probably did not allow the drawing of a final conclusion on real
competitions. Moreover, another limitation was that the authors did not take into
consideration the techniques used in Muay Thai fighting. This martial art is
characterized by active periods (when athletes are engaged in fighting/defending
actions) and passive periods (when athletes are not engaged in any attach/defensive
action, i.e. they are in a study phase (ST). Periods of attacks consist of an alternation of
fighting at a distance (DI) with phases of struggle, commonly called clinches (CL). In
DI attacks, three kinds of strikes can be further identified: single attacks (SA), which are
attacks performed with a single technique, combined attacks (CA), which include the
execution of more techniques combined together, and counterattacks (CTA), which are
single attacks or combined attacks. Athletes are required to be skilful in performing
techniques since the winner results from the number of effective attacks.

Therefore, to better understand what determines the outcome of a match a study dealing
with both energy requirements and techniques used during real Muay Thai competitions
is warranted. In view of the above considerations, we devised a study to measure certain
physiological parameters related to the energetic demand together with the time
structure by means of a match analysis during real Muay Thai fighting. In detail, we
recorded the HR response, which although with some limitations is supposed to be

508
closely related to aerobic metabolism (Crisafulli et al., 2006; Gillman, 1996), and the
BLa level, which is related to anaerobic glycolysis. Moreover, the variables obtained
with winners and losers were compared to better understand what determined the
outcome of the match. All this information can be useful for coaches in devising
specific training programs able to develop the specific adaptations required by Muay
Thai.

2. Methods

Twenty male Muay Thai fighters were recruited in the present investigation. Their mean
± standard error of the means (SEM) of age, height, and body mass were 24.6 ± 1.2
years, 176.1 ± 1.3 cm, and 69.4 ± 2.2 kg respectively. None had any history of cardiac
or respiratory disease or was taking any medication at the time of the study, and none
showed any abnormalities on physical examination or on resting electrocardiogram.
Participants were skilled athletes who regularly took part in competitions in the
previous two years and trained for 8 to 10 h a week. Athletes could be considered at the
upper-middle level since, during the last year, twelve of them took part in international
competitions, while the other eight participated in matches at national level. All the
procedures were in accordance with the Helsinki guidelines on human research and was
approved by the local ethics committee. All participants gave written informed consent.
Each participant underwent a preliminary incremental exercise test on a motorised
treadmill (Runrace, Technogym, Forlì, Italy) to assess their AT and VO2max. The test
consisted of a linear increase in running velocity of 2 km·h- every 3min, starting at 6
km·h- , up to exhaustion, which was considered the exercise level at which the athlete
was unable to maintain the running speed (i.e., muscular fatigue). The anaerobic
threshold was determined using the V-slope method, which detected AT by using
computerised regression analysis of the slopes of VCO2 vs. VO2 plot during exercise
(Beaver et al.; 1986) while VO2max was calculated as the average VO2 during the last 30
s of the exercise test. Achievement of VO2max was considered as the attainment of at
least two of the following criteria: 1) a plateau in VO2 despite increasing speed (<80
mL•min-1); 2) a respiratory exchange ratio (RER) above 1.10; and 3) HR ± 10
beats•min-1 of predicted maximum calculated as 220-age (Howley et al.; 1995).
Preliminary tests were conducted between 09.00 and 14.00 hours in a temperature-
controlled room (temperature set at 22 °C, relative humidity at 50%). Athletes were
asked to avoid caffeine and alcohol ingestion the day before tests were scheduled and to
have a light meal at least 2 h before exercising.

On a separate day from this preliminary test (the interval was at least 3 days, with a
range of 3-11 days) each athlete was engaged in a real Muay Thai competition. Before
the match, a blood sample was obtained from the earlobe and pre-match blood lactate
concentration (BLapre) was measured by means of a portable lactate analyser (Lactate
Pro, Arkray Inc., Kyoto, Japan)(Mc Naughton et al., 2002). Then, about 15 minutes of
warm up were allowed to prepare for fighting. Before the match, a chest belt HR
monitor (Polar, Kempele, Finland) was positioned for pre-match HR measurement
(HRpre), with the athlete in the standing position. According to the rules of the
International Federation of Muay Thai Amateur (IFMA), matches consisted of 4 rounds,
each lasting 2 minutes, spaced by 1 minute of recovery. During the fighting athletes

509
wore all the protections afforded by IFMA rules: helmet, gloves, vest, shell and
mouthguards.

Immediately after the cessation of each round HR was recorded and blood samples were
rapidly obtained from the earlobe for BLa concentration assessment. Thus, for each
participant a total of five HR and BLa measures were obtained: one at rest and four
immediately after each round. In addition, to find out whether the anaerobic glycolysis
activation decreased or increased as the match went on, we also calculated the delta
blood  lactate  across  rounds  (ΔBLa).  The  whole  match  was  filmed  with  a  digital  camera  
for subsequent analysis to determine the number and duration of active and passive
phases. Moreover, attack actions were further analysed to determine the number and
effectiveness of the techniques used. In detail, the number and the effectiveness of both
DI and CL attacks were first calculated. Then, of the DI attacks SA, CA, and CTA
attacks were further identified. To assess the effectiveness of the attacks, each combat
was reviewed by three referees affiliated to the IFMA. Only those attacks unanimously
judged effective by all referees were considered for calculation. Matches were
conducted between 4 p.m. and 9 p.m. in a regular Muay Thai ring. Participants were
asked to have a light meal at least four hours before matches. They were also asked to
avoid caffeine and alcohol ingestion starting from the day before matches were
scheduled.

Descriptive statistics were performed on each variable before significance tests to

confirm the assumptions of normality by means of the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test. The
alpha level was set at 0.05. Athletes were divided into two groups: winners (W) and
losers (L), and the difference between groups in the HR and BLa responses and in the
number and effectiveness of attack actions was annualised by employing the t test for
unpaired data. Comparisons between periods of the matches in HR and BLa responses
were performed using the one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) for repeated
measures, followed by Neuman-Keuls post-hoc when appropriate. Significance was set
at a P value of <0.05 in all cases. Responses were reported as mean ± SEM. Statistics
were carried out employing a commercially available software (Graph-Pad Prism).

3. Results

All participants completed the study protocol and all completed the full 4 rounds. Table
1 shows the results of the incremental preliminary test. The mean level of VO2max
attained was 54.3±1.4 ml·min·kg-1, while AT occurred at 30.8 ±1.7 ml·min·kg-1 (i.e.
56% of VO2max). Mean maximum HR was 187.2±0.5 bpm and HR level at AT was
168.4±1.3 bpm.

A total of 10 matches were filmed and analysed. Match analysis revealed that for the
120 s duration of each round, on average 47.89±4.17 s (39.9 % of the total time) were
spent in the ST phase, 24.58±4.64 s (20.4% of the total time) were spent in CL attacks,
and 47.5±5.9 s (39.6% of the total) were spent in DI attacks (Figure 1, panel a).

510
Table 1: Mean group values ± SEM of maximum oxygen uptake (VO2max,
expressed as absolute and indexed by body mass values), maximum heart rate
(HRmax), oxygen uptake at anaerobic threshold (VO2AT), and heart rate at
anaerobic threshold (HRAT) reached by participants during the preliminary
incremental test.

VO2max VO2max HRmax VO2AT VO2AT HRAT

ml·min·kg-1 ml·min bpm ml·min·kg -1 ml·min bpm
Mean 54.3 3760.2 187.2 30.8 3170.6 168.4
SEM 1.8 152.9 0.6 1.6 205.7 1.6

Figure 1 (panels b and c) shows the average number and effectiveness of techniques
used by both W and L athletes during each round. As can be inferred, there was no
significant difference in the number of techniques between groups, but winners had
greater effectiveness in their attacks as compared with losers. Furthermore, statistics
failed to detect any difference between W and L in the HR and BLa responses (panel d).

Figure 2 depicts results of the ANOVA test applied to the mean values of BLa and HR
during resting immediately before the match and after each round. Data are from all
participants. Heart rate was higher after each round with respect to rest. The highest HR
level was reached immediately after the fourth round, when it was on average 182.9±0.6
bpm, a value slightly lower than that achieved at peak exercise of the preliminary
incremental test. On average, HR throughout matches was 178.9±0.3 bpm, a level above
that of AT assessed during the preliminary test. Blood lactate rose throughout matches
and it achieved the highest value after the fourth round,  when  it  was  12.55±1.1  mmol•L-
1
. The average BLa level throughout matches was 9.72±0.6  mmol•L-1.

511
Figure 1. Panel a: total time spent in study phase (ST), clinch attacks (CL), and
attacks at distance (DI) by all participants (n=20). Panel b: number of techniques
per round in winners (W, n=10) and losers (L, n=10). SA= single attacks, CA=
combined attacks, CTA= counterattacks. Panel c: effectiveness of attacks. Panel d:
mean values of heart rate (HR) and blood lactate (BLa) throughout matches.
Values are mean ± SEM. *= p<0.05 vs. L group.

512
Figure 2. Athletes’  mean  response  in  Heart  Rate  (HR,  top  panel),  in  blood  lactate  
(BLa,  middle  panel),  and  in  delta  blood  lactate  (ΔBLa,  bottom  panel)  values  during  
the  four  rounds  of  matches.  Values  are  mean  ±  SEM.  *=  p<0.05  vs.  rest  ;;  †=  p<0.05  
vs.  round  1;;  ‡  =p<0.05 vs. round 2.

513
4. Discussion

The definition of the energetic demands of any sport is essential to provide benchmarks
for   developing   athletes’   capacity   for   good   performance   and   to   monitor   training.   The  
main purpose of the present investigation was to measure certain physiological
parameters related to the energetic demand together with the time structure of real Muay
Thai matches to obtain an understanding of this martial art. In this order, HR and BLa
were assessed immediately after real Muay Thai competitions since HR was supposed
to be related to the aerobic metabolism while BLa was related to anaerobic glycolysis.
Results appeared to confirm what was obtained in the recent investigation by Crisafulli
and co-workers (2009), who reported that Muay Thai was a physically demanding
activity with great involvement of both the aerobic metabolism and anaerobic
glycolysis.

Actually, our data revealed that during matches HR was always above the level of AT
and that it approached the maximum values reached during the preliminary incremental
laboratory test. Moreover, BLa increased throughout rounds as it was on average 6.02
mmol•L-1 already at the end of the first round and it continually increased to reach a
level of 12.55 mmol•L-1. Our finding of elevated BLa levels led us to speculate that
athletes greatly relied on the anaerobic metabolism to support the energy requirement
during matches. This assertion is in accordance with what was previously reported for
Muay Thai (Crisafulli et al., 2009), as well as in other studies focusing on the energy
demands of other martial arts such as karate and judo (Beneke et al., 2004; Degoutte et
al. 2003; Francescato et al. 1995).

However, our results were in contrast to what was reported for Taekwondo. In a recent
investigation Matsushigue and co-workers (2009) found that there was only a moderate
contribution of anaerobic glycolysis in this martial art. The authors concluded that the
alactic or aerobic metabolism was the main energetic source in Taekwondo. Probably,
the differences in number and techniques employed may account for the different
energetic sources between Muay Thai and Taekwondo. It should however be noted that
our experimental setting did not allow investigation of the alactic anaerobic power
supply since this kind of measure requires the assessment of muscle ATP and
phosphocreatine by means of muscle biopsy, which is complex, expensive and invasive
and it was not in the possibility of our laboratory and not advisable in a non-invasive
study such as the present one. Thus, we could not rule out the contribution of this
energy supply system during Muay Thai, although its involvement was likely given by
the explosive nature of several Muay Thai movements.

Results from the time structure analysis showed that on average about 60% of the time
of a round was spent in fighting (i.e. clinches or attacks at distance) whereas about 40%
was spent in study phases. The technique most used was single attacks, while the less
used were counterattacks and clinches. It is noteworthy that statistics found no
difference in the number of attack actions between winners and losers. However,
winners had a higher effectiveness of attacks as compared with losers. This fact meant
that winners did not perform more techniques than losers but simply that their attacks
were more effective, thus reflecting a higher technical quality rather than a better
physical condition. This fact is further supported by the finding that there was no

514
difference between W and L athletes in the HR and BLa responses, thus indicating that
the level of physical effort was probably the same whatever the outcome of the fighting.

5. Conclusions

In conclusion, although the exact determination of the metabolic contribution during a

Muay Thai match, along with aerobic and lactic energy supply systems, would also
require the assessment of the alactic metabolism, from our data it appears that the
aerobic and lactic metabolisms are of great importance in this martial art. It is
noteworthy that the contribution of anaerobic glycolysis increased throughout matches,
thus suggesting that this energy supply system was important, especially during the last
rounds.

6. Practical implications

Muay Thai matches are challenging from an energetic point of view and athletes should
prepare to face up to a heavy effort. There is no difference in the metabolic
requirements between winners and losers. Successful athletes use the same number of
techniques as losers, but they are able to obtain higher scores, thus indicating that
training strategy should aim at developing high technical ability.

7. References

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Correspondence
Dr. Antonio Crisafulli
Department of Medical Science, Sport Physiology Lab., University of Cagliari (Italy),
Via Porcell 4, 09124 Cagliari, (Italy).
Tel. +390706758937
Fax. +390706758917

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