KINEMATICS OF LOWER AND UPPER EXTREMITIES MOTIONS DURING THE FENCING LUNGE: RESULTS AND TRAINING IMPLICATIONS

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: The fencing lunge belongs to the type of motions mostly used in this sport: a substantial element is represented by the action speed, avoiding or reducing the possibility of a defense or counterattack action by the opponent athlete. The objectives of this study are the presentation and valuation of the actual state of the execution of the fencing lunge on the basis of quantitative aspects using data of a three-dimensional analysis of lower and upper extremity movements. METHODS: Data were obtained using an electro-optical system (SELSPOT II), yielding the spatial coordinates of different body points of interest, and, by execution of a differentiation process, the velocity parameters of these points. Four female fencers of a higher fencing level served as test persons. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: The interpretation of the numerical results consists at first of a description of the actual ‘state of the art’ of execution of the fencing lunge. In all test persons, the begin of the movement of hip and sword arm was registrated at the same time, the hip reaching horizontal values of about 2 m/s and the maximal foil velocity being about 4 m/s. It could be noticed the hit (measured and registrated using a wall target) coincided with the maximum speed value of the foil. Furthermore, taking into account the individual variations of the data, the possibilities of an optimization of the training technique are discussed, giving methodological hints towards a better or more effective training of the fencing lunge.