Effects of high intensity interval training on some physical and physiological parameters of Muay-Thai athletes

The aim of this study is to examine the effects of high-intensity interval training program in different forms applied to Muay-Thai athletes for 8 weeks on some physical and physiological parameters of the athletes. 22 Muay-Thai athletes between the ages of 18-24, who actively participate in competitions, and regularly train at least 6 days a week, participated in the study. By random method, the participants were divided into 2 groups as 12 Group.1 (6 males-6 females) and 10 Group.2 (6 males-4 females). A total of 12 Muay-Thai (6 men-6 women) athletes in Group.1 in addition to their weekly routine branch training, according to Tabata Protocol 20 seconds work 10 seconds resting they performed a series of 8 intervals based on, consisting of calisthenic and plyometric exercises 3 days a week. In addition to weekly routine branch training, a total of 10 Muay-Thai (6 men-4 women) athletes in Group.2 did according to the Tabata Protocol 20 seconds work 10 seconds resting performed the series consisting of a single movement (kettlebell swing) 3 days a week, with a total of 8 intervals based on. Flexibility, anaerobic power, aerobic endurance, speed and agility measurements of the participants were carried out in the form of pre-test and post-test with an interval of 8 weeks. SPSS 20.0 package program was used in the statistical analysis of the study. Before data analysis, it was tested whether the data were normally distributed. For normally distributed data, Independent Samples-T Test was applied to test the significance of the difference between Group.1 and Group.2 performance tests pretest and posttest scores. Paired Samples-T Test was used to test the significance between the pretest and posttest scores within the groups. Significance level was accepted as p<0.05. As a result, it was observed that there were statistically significant improvements in all selected physical and physiological parameters of both groups. Depending on the evaluations between and within the group, it can be said that high intensity interval training can be effective in improving the physical and physiological parameters of Muay-Thai athletes in a short time.