Background and Study Aim. Muay thai is a combat sport in which the competitors kick, punch, knee, elbow and growl with their opponents. The strength of the leg muscles can increase the intensity of the kick and its flexibility is a well-known issue for this sport. Determining the most appropriate method for these issues provides important gains to the athletes. One of the methods applied to achieve these gains is acute massage applications. The aim of the study is to evaluate the acute effect of different massage times on squat jump, countermovement jump and flexibility performance. Materials and Methods. Twelve healthy male muay thai athletes (age, 19.83± 1.46 years; height, 175.33± 7.91 cm; body mass, 65.16 ±13.36 kg) participated in the study, who exercised three times a week. The study consists of a single group. The study consists of 4 different massage duration protocols. These protocols consist of no massage (NM), five minutes massage (5MMSG), ten minutes massage (10MMSG) and fifteen minutes massage (15MMSG). Counter movement jump, squat jump, sitting and lying flexibility were measured after each massage period, respectively. All protocols were continued on consecutive days. Results. There was a significant main effect for flexibility (F = 10,872 ; p = 0.00), countermovement jump (F = 4.719 p=.008) and squat jump (F = 6.262 p=.002) performance. The best flexibility, countermovement jump and squat jump performance detected immediately after 5MMSG was respectively 35,16 ± 6,33; 37,17 ± 4,18 and next, 36,05 ± 4,68. Conclusion. As a result, it is recommended that different massage durations are effective in improving physical performance, and 5MMSG before competition is recommended for athletes and coaches to get more performance.

Purpose Visual feedback and music while warm up may help elicit peak performance, but its effect during the Wingate anaerobic test (WAnT) in futsal players is unexplored. Therefore, the aim of this study was to examine the effects of music and visual stimulus on WAnT performance in futsal players. Methods The study included 17 young male futsal players (age, 21.53 ± 1.32 years; height, 177.59 ± 5.75 cm; 73.71 ± 9.31 kg; BMI 23.342 ± .47). The WAnT was administered using three distinct protocols: with music (M), without music (NM), and with music and visual feedback (MV) following a 10-min warm-up at 72-h intervals. After WAnT, the following parameters were evaluated: (a) peak power output: PPO (W), (b) relative peak power output: RPPO (W/kg), (c) mean power output: MPO (W), (d) relative mean power output: RMPO (W/kg), (e) fatigue index: FI (%), and (f) minimum power output MIPO (W). Results MV indicated that futsal players' WAnT values, including PPO, RPPO, MPO, RMPO, and MIPO improved more than with other protocols (p < 0.05). However, there was no significant difference between protocols for FI (%) WAnT values (p > 0.05). Conclusions Listening to music and watching visual feedback while warm up before performing WAnT performance suggest to coaches and futsal players.

Background and Study Aim. Strength, power and flexibility are among the features that provide advantage against the opponent in kick boxers. There are many factors that can affect the development of these parameters in a positive and negative way before the competition. These factors may differ according to the type and intensity of warm-up and stretching exercises, depending on psychological and physiological conditions. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effects of proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation (PNF) stretching, massage, PNF+massage on flexibility, vertical jump and hand grip strength performance in kickboxers. Materials and Methods. The sample group of the study consisted of 12 men (age: 18.50 ± 0.97 years, height: 161.60 ± 4.47 cm, body weight: 62.20 ± 9.07 kg, BMI: 23.77 ± 2.63), who did kick-box regularly for at least 3 years. This group performed 4 different stretching and warm up protocols on non-consecutive days. Warm up and stretching protocols were determined as follows: light jogging for only 5 minutes (NSM), PNF stretching (PNF), massage (M), PNF stretching+massage (PNF+M). After warm up and stretching protocols, participants completed vertical jump, flexibility and hand grip strength Results. There was a significant improvement on flexibility performance in order from low to high respectively NSM, PNF, PNF+M, M. Moreover, there was a significant difference between NSM and PNF, NSM and M, NSM and PNF+M in flexibility (p<.05). There was a significant difference between PNF and PNF+M, M and PNF+M in favour of PNF+M in vertical jump (p<.05). There was a significant decrease in right- and left-hand grip strength for all protocols. Conclusion. As a result of the study, PNF and massage can be recommended to kickboxers before flexibility performance. However, PNF and massage are not recommended before activities that affect the lower extremity, such as strength and vertical jump.

This study was conducted to determine the effects of massage on some anaerobic performance and diurnal variation. Twelve male athletes between the ages of 18-25, who exercised regularly for three days a week (age, 18.00± 2.17 years; height, 168.± 3.15 cm; 65± 2.63 kg; BMI 22.49±.44 years) participated in the study. While the non-massage protocol consisted of only 15 minutes of jogging (NM), the protocol with sports massage consisted of 5 minutes of jogging and 10 minutes of sports massage (SM). The protocols were applied in two time periods of the day (morning: 09.00-11.00, evening: 16.00-18.00). It has been reported that SM positively affects peak power and mean power due to vertical jump performance compared to the NM protocol. In addition, it was determined that the SM protocol applied in the evening was more effective than SM protocol applied in the morning.

The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of a 30 min nap (N30) on the Running-Based Anaerobic Sprint Test (RAST) both during and after Ramadan. Ten physically active kickboxers (age: 21.20 ± 1.61 years, height: 174.80 ± 4.34 cm, body mass: 73.30 ± 7.10 kg and body mass index (BMI): 24.00 ± 2.21 kg/m2) voluntarily performed the RAST test after an N30 and in a no-nap condition (NN) during two experimental periods: the last ten days of Ramadan (DR) and ∼3 weeks after Ramadan (AR). During each DR-NN, DR-N30, AR-NN and AR-N30 protocol, kickboxers performed RAST performance. A statistically significant difference was found between Ramadan periods (DR vs. AR) in terms of max power (W) (F = 80.93; p1 < 0.001; η2p = 0.89), minimum power (W) (F = 49.05; p1 < 0.001; η2p = 0.84), average power (W) (F = 83.79; p1 < 0.001; η2p = 0.90) and fatigue index (%) results (F = 11.25; p1 = 0.008; η2p = 0.55). In addition, the nap factor was statistically significant in terms of the max power (W) (F = 81.89; p2 < 0.001; η2p = 0.90), minimum power (W) (F = 80.37; p2 < 0.001; η2p = 0.89), average power (W) (F = 108.41; p2 < 0.001; η2p = 0.92) and fatigue index (%) results (F = 16.14; p2 = 0.003; η2p = 0.64). Taking a daytime nap benefits subsequent performance in RAST. The benefits of napping were greater after an N30 opportunity for DR and AR.