Relationship between upper and lower extremities muscle strength and pulmonary function in Nigerian male amateur boxers

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Abstract

The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between upper and lower extremity muscular strength and pulmonary function in Nigerian male amateur boxers. Twenty-six (26) male subjects who were at the training camp preparing for the 10th All African games showed interest and willingly participated in this study.Participants aged 22.50 ± 2.72 years with weight of 71.43± 13.42kg and height of1.75 ± 0.08m were all right hand dominant, and their competition weight class ranged from light flyweight (49Kg) to heavyweight (91Kg).Pearson’s product correlation coefficient technique was used to determine the relationship between the male amateur boxers’ extremity muscle strength and pulmonary functions of Forced Expiratory Volume in 1 second [FEV1] and Forced Inspiratory Volume [FIV]. The results revealed that there was a significant positive correlation between FIV and weight, height, right and left lower extremity muscle strength; also, there was a significant positive correlation between FEV1 and height (p< 0.05). However, the results demonstrated that there was a negative although insignificant correlation between FEV1 and age, and right hand grip strength. The findings in this study suggest that lower extremity muscle strength is more related to pulmonary function in strength and endurance trained athletes such as amateur boxers and that weight and height play a role in this relationship. It is recommended that optimal strength and power training of the lower extremity muscles may contribute to enhancing the cardiopulmonary endurance in amateur boxers. It is believed that this outcome may offer a new perception of the training program and functional performance enhancement in amateur boxers.

Keywords

Amateur boxing, pulmonary function, extremity muscle strength

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