Impact of explosive power, agility, and focus on front kick speed in pencak silat

Abstract

Introduction. In pencak silat, a front kick is considered the most effective technique for scoring points due to its precision and power. Aim. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of leg muscle explosiveness, agility, and focus on the speed of the front kick. Material and methods. This type of research is causal associative research. The population in this study comprised pencak silat athletes. 30 pencak silat athletes voluntarily participated in the study. The research instruments used in this study were vertical jumps, shuttle runs, focus grids, and kick speed tests. The analytical technique used to test this research is path analysis with multiple linear regression tests. Results. The results showed that: (1) there was a significant direct effect between the explosive power on the speed of the front kick about 13.6%. (2) Agility has a significant direct effect on the speed of the front kick, accounting for about 21.1%. (3) Focus significantly affects the speed of the front kick, contributing approximately 71.6%., (4) There is an indirect effect of explosive leg muscles on the speed of the front kick, with a focus of approximately 21.4%. (5) There is also an indirect effect of agility on the speed of the front kick among pencak silat athletes, with a focus of about 20.6%. (6) Furthermore, there is a combined effect of explosive leg muscle power, agility, and focus on the speed of the front kick, accounting for approximately 71.2%. Conclusions. It was concluded that the front kick speed was affected by explosive power, agility, and focus by 71.2% while the rest were other variables that were not studied. The results of this study are expected to help coaches, athletes, and performance analysts in developing appropriate training programs by prioritizing explosive power, agility, and focus variables.