Impact of The Rest Period Duration and Breathing Techniques on Session RPE in Elite Kumite-Karate Athletes

Abstract

The aim of this study to investigate interdependent effects of rest periods duration and breathing techniques on session rating of perceived exertion, in elite-level kumite-karate athletes. Nine males and females, national Serbian team, performed six sessions with strike gyaku zuki. Every session had five series of gyaku zuki with 40 strikes, but the sessions had different rest periods and different breathing techniques (sessions with kime, kiai and without exhalation). When 15 minutes have passed since the end of every session, session rating of perceived exertion was collected. Procedure of the two-way within subject ANOVA have showed that short rest periods has caused (p = 0.030) higher perceptive load, compared to the long rest periods, and breathing techniques failed to reach level of significance (p = 0.663). The findings suggest that session rating of perceived exertion is sensitive to rest period duration in elite level kumite-karate training.