title: The influence of karate practice level and sex on physiological and perceptual responses in three modern karate training modalities.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim of the present study was to examine the influence of karate practice level (national vs international level) and sex (women vs men) on physiological and perceptual responses in three modern karate training modalities (tactical-technical (TT), technical-development (TD), and randori).
  
  
  METHODS
  The study included 18 karatekas participating in an eight-session training camp of four TT, two TD, and two randori. During each session, the percentage of maximal heart rate (HR), blood lactate concentration [La(-)], and rating of perceived exertion (RPE) were assessed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The main results showed that the percentage of maximal HR was significantly higher in women than in men regardless of practice level or training modality (70.3 ± 4.1 vs 66.2 ± 6.3, respectively). Moreover, [La(-)] and RPE were significantly lower in international-level karatekas compared with their national-level counterparts whatever the sex or training modality ([La(-)] = 11.4 ± 2.6 vs 8.3 ± 2.4 mmol · L(-1) and RPE = 3.6 ± 1.2 vs 4.3 ± 1.5, respectively). Last, physiological and perceptual responses were significantly higher during randori in comparison with TT and TD for both sexes.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The combination of [La(-)] and RPE thus seems to be a good indicator for discriminating between national- and international-level karatekas, and randori seems to be an effective means to reproduce official karate sparring.
authors.affiliation: CETAPS, University of Rouen, Faculty of Sport Sciences, Mont Saint Aignan, France ; Tunisian Research Laboratory: Sports, Performance and Optimization, National Center of Medicine and Science in Sports, Tunis, Tunisia.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tabben
authors.affiliation: Research Unit: Analysis and Evaluation of Factors Affecting the Sport Performance, Higher Institute of Sports and Physical Education, Ksar Said, Tunisia.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Chaabène
authors.affiliation: Martial Arts and Combat Sports Research Group, School of Physical Education and Sport, University of Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil ; University of Montpellier, Faculty of Sport Science, Montpellier, France.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Franchini
authors.affiliation: CETAPS, University of Rouen, Faculty of Sport Sciences, Mont Saint Aignan, France.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Tourny
authors.affiliation: Tunisian Research Laboratory: Sports, Performance and Optimization, National Center of Medicine and Science in Sports, Tunis, Tunisia ; Research and Education Centre, Aspetar, Qatar ; Orthopaedic and Sports Medicine Hospital, Doha, Qatar.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Chamari
authors.affiliation: CETAPS, University of Rouen, Faculty of Sport Sciences, Mont Saint Aignan, France.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Coquart
keywords: blood lactate concentration; effort perception; heart rate; martial arts; ratings of perceived exertion