Morphological Characteristics Of Judo Athletes

Abstract

The aim of this review paper is to determine the significance of morphological space for success in judo, through the analysis of previous results of various scientific papers. The research included 739 respondents of both sexes, aged 13 to 24 years. The analysis of the obtained results revealed that there are statistically significant differences in morphological characteristics between the sexes at all ages, and that these differences are mainly in height, weight, circumference, and limb length, which are all greater in men, as well as subcutaneous tissue and body fat percentage, which are bother greater in females. Subcutaneous adipose tissue has been found to be complicating factor during judo performance. The obtained results generally indicated that morphology did not have a crucial impact on judo performance, which was shown for almost all ages, especially for the ages of 13 to 16 years. The judoist somatotype mainly showed that judoists belong most often to the mesomorphic somatotype, then to the endomorphic and a combination of the mesomorphic and endomorphic, while the ectomorphic type is rarely present among judoists. In regard to differences in morphology between high and lower-ranked judoists of both sexes, there are negligible differences.