Fencing is a combat sport whose form of direct confrontation involves hitting the opponent with a weapon. The purpose of the study was to determine the properties of body composition of female representatives of the Polish national fencing team. The study involved 11 female athletes of the Polish national fencing team. Their age was 16-22 years (19±2.32), body weight 52-78 kg (59.7±7.4), body height 158-183 cm (167.46±6.10) and the training experience 7.64±3.47 years. The reference group consisted of 153 students of Warsaw University of Technology (Poland). Twenty basic somatic characteristics were measured. The following indices were calculated: slenderness, Rohrer’s, BMI, Manouvrier’s, and pelvic-shoulder indices. Density of the body, total body fat, active tissue, the overall profile of body composition and internal proportions of the body were determined. Analysis of internal proportions of factors of the athletes’ body composition revealed significant differences in particular groups of features. The total size of the athletes’ bodies is due to less-than-average magnitude of the length and stoutness characteristics and a high magnitude of adiposity (M = 0.63) in the Polish female national team of fencers (sabre) calculated from the normalized values for the control group. The proportions of features within the analysed factors revealed a significant advantage of the length of the upper extremity over the lower one and a distinct advantage of forearm musculature. The specific profile of body composition of female athletes practising sabre fencing is most likely due to long-term effects of training as well as the system of selection of persons with specific somatic prerequisites developed in the course of many years of training practice.

We compared the effects of 16-week-training on rest metabolic rate, aerobic power, and body fat, and the post-exercise effects upon rest oxygen uptake and respiratory exchange ratio in overweight middle-aged females. Twenty nine overweight women (BMI 29.9 ± 1.2 kg*m−2) participated in training (3 days a week). The subjects were divided onto groups of aerobic (AT) and strength (ST) training. The results showed that the total body mass decrease and VO2 max increase did not differ in both groups. Decrease in waist circumference after 16 weeks was higher in the ST group. In the ST group fat-free mass increased during the first 8 weeks. Rest metabolic rate was increased significantly at 16th week compared to initial value in ST group only. Significant increase in post-exercise resting VO2 and respiratory exchange ratio at 12 and 36 h was observed after the strength training session only. Increase in rest metabolic rate and post-exercise rest energy expenditure occurred after strength training but not after aerobic training despite the similar increase in aerobic power. The effect of 8–16 weeks of strength training on body mass decrease was higher in comparison to aerobic training.

Analysis of grip strength and somatotype features of armwrestling athletes of different skill levels

Abstract. Purpose: to create the most general mathematical models for determination of sportsmen's individual motor abilities' characteristics and individual features of qualified judo wrestlers' fighting style. Material: in the research 22 sportsmen -judo wrestlers of average weight categories (60-81 kg) participated. Results: model, on the base of which it becomes possible to determine individual characteristics of sportsmen, has been found. With the help of factorial 4 main factors analysis of judo wrestlers' complex fitness have been marked out. Cluster analysis of judo wrestlers' testing indicators showed that all tested sportsmen could be divided in 3 groups (clusters). Conclusions: the received results witness about effectiveness of mathematical simulation methods, as well as methods of factorial and cluster analysis for determination of individual fighting styles of elite judo wrestlers. In their practical work coaches should apply principles of mathematical simulation for determination of individual features of fighting styles and work out methodic of judo wrestlers' individual training.

Background The main aim of the study is to define the profile of positive health and survival abilities in women differing as to physical activity. Thus formulated study aim was connected with answering the following question: do young women, undergraduate students at the Faculty of Tourism and Recreation, who declare daily physical activity substantially differ from their peers declaring occasional activity in the sense of positive health in all its aspects and in self-assessment of their survival abilities? Material/Methods: The profile of women's positive health and survival abilities was defined on the basis of Kalina's original methodology (2012) taking into account four aspects of indices: the somatic (A), mental (B), social (C) and reflecting survival abilities (D) ones. The arithmetic mean calculated for indices A to D represents the most general index of the Sense of Positive Health and Survival Abilities (SPHSA). The studied group was composed of female students from the Faculty of Tourism and Recreation completing their education at the undergraduate level (6 th semester). 24 students declared daily physical activity, and 34 students the occasional one. The subjects' age was within the range of 20-23 years (21.24±0.99). Results: Women declaring daily physical activity surpass their occasionally active peers in the SPHSA index-3.740 and 3.427, respectively (p<0.01). The highest value of indices in both groups was noted in social health (4.08 and 3.95), while the lowest one in the survival ability (3.5 and 3.165). Students who are active every day have statistically higher values than their occasionally active peers in the following indices: aerobic capacity (p<0.01), flexibility (p<0.001), muscular power (p<0.001), lesser aggressiveness (p<0.05), anxiety (p<0.001), skill of safe falling (p<0.05), and the ability to act precisely before and after physical activity (p<0.05). Conclusions: Physical activity constitutes an important factor modifying the sense of positive health and the survival ability. The structure of the SPHSA profile was similar in both groups. The differences regarded the intensity of those aspects which undergo the greatest changes under the influence of physical activity: somatic and mental health.