Practical recommendations for safe reduction of body weight in combat sports: scoping review

The presence of weight categories in martial arts requires an athlete to constantly maintain and control body weight and, in some cases, to reduce it. For this reason, it is common among martial artists to use forced methods of body weight reduction, which are often unphysiological and may have a negative impact on performance, as well as pose a danger to health. In this connection, it is of practical interest to search, analyse and introduce into practice physiological and safe methods of body weight reduction by athletes-athletes before participation in competitions. The aim of the study is to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of various methods of weight loss in athletes preparing to participate in competitions.

Materials and methods: the review was conducted according to the methodology of Scoping review. Articles were selected in the domestic data-bases eLibrary and Russian State Library, using the following keywords: «методы снижения массы тела ИЛИ снижение массы тела ИЛИ весогонка» И «единоборства ИЛИ боевые виды спорта», as well as in the foreign databases ScienceDirect and PubMed, using the following keywords: «making weight OR weight loss» AND «combat sports», placed in a search depth of 15 years.

Results: we found 121 studies, 3 duplicates were excluded after initial screening, 118 studies were screened for inclusion criteria, and a total of 16 studies were included in the review.

Conclusion: a reduction of 5 to 10 % of body weight less than 7 days before the official weigh-in may adversely affect performance parameters and the state of the body’s functional systems. A reduction of up to 5 % of body weight 7 or more days before the official weigh-in is the safest.

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