Key result
An 8-week strength training and nutritional intervention in amateur Muay Thai fighters significantly improved kick performance (p=0.0008) and parasympathetic modulation (p<0.0001).
Why the study?
Because low cardiac autonomic modulation is associated with poorer performance, evaluating training effects to increase parasympathetic modulation in Muay Thai fighters is essential.
Does an 8-week strength training and nutritional counseling intervention improve performance, body composition, and cardiac autonomic modulation in amateur Muay Thai fighters?
Does an 8-week strength training and nutritional counseling intervention improve performance, body composition, and cardiac autonomic modulation in amateur Muay Thai fighters?
p-value: p=0.0008
An 8-week strength training and nutritional intervention improves performance, body composition, and parasympathetic cardiac autonomic modulation in amateur Muay Thai fighters.
Supports combined training-nutrition programs in amateur fighters; hypothesis-generating and requires RCTs before practice change.
Background: Considering that the nervous system regulates cardiac autonomic modulation (CAM) and that low CAM is associated with poorer performance, it is essential to evaluate the effects of training to increase parasympathetic modulation in Muay Thai (MT) fighters. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of an 8-week intervention based on strength training and nutritional counseling on performance, CAM, and nutritional status in amateur MT fighters. Methods: This is a longitudinal and interventional study in which 22 MT fighters underwent a strength training program and nutritional protocol. Before and after the intervention, they underwent the ten-second frequency speed of kick test (FSKT-10s), multiple frequency speed of kick test (FSKT-mult), bioimpedance analysis (BIA), and assessment of heart rate variability. Results: After the intervention, there was an increase in the number of kicks in both FSKT-10s and FSKT-mult (p = 0.0008 and p = 0.032, respectively). In BIA, there was a significant increase in both fat-free mass and basal metabolic rate (p = 0.031 and p = 0.020, respectively). After the intervention, significant increases were observed during the physical test in the following variables that denote improvement in parasympathetic modulation: square root of the mean squared differences of successive RR intervals (p = 0.005); percentage of adjacent RR intervals with a difference in duration greater than 50 ms (p = 0.002); high frequency range (p < 0.0001); and standard deviation measuring the dispersion of points in the plot perpendicular to the line of identity (p = 0.004). Conclusions: In amateur MT fighters, an intervention with strength training and nutritional guidance is able to improve CAM through greater parasympathetic activation. Furthermore, there is an improvement in performance and body composition after the intervention.
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Andrade et al. (2025) studied amateur Muay Thai fighters (n=22). Strength training and nutritional counseling vs. Baseline (pre-intervention) was evaluated on Performance (FSKT-10s and FSKT-mult), body composition, and cardiac autonomic modulation (p=0.0008). An 8-week strength training and nutritional intervention in amateur Muay Thai fighters significantly improved kick performance (p=0.0008) and parasympathetic modulation (p<0.0001).
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