Introduction
Taekwondo is a sport which originated as a form of martial arts in the ancient Korean states which were divided into three. It was basically used as a means of combating fighting skills among the soldiers but it was later adopted as a sport. The sport usually employs heavy use of fist and foot as well as flexibility. There have been claims that this sport heavily impact on the physical fitness of a person as well as health of the person. The popularity of the sport has spreads to over 180 countries in the world with about 80 million people practicing it.
Following the claims, several investigations or researches have been carried and conflicting results found. As earlier proposed, this sport improves on certain aspects of fitness and appears to do this at the expense of others (Willy, 2008).
Research methods
The main methods of research that I employed in my research are direct observation in a local taekwondo training school, reading from books, journals and articles (secondary sources) and interview with a trainer at the training center.
Results
Having perused some articles in both print and electronic media, I can conclude that there is some relationship between taekwondo and fitness. The main aspects of health and fitness affected are: general body structure, aerobic and anaerobic fitness, strain and flexibility and muscle strength (Willy, 2008).
As an illustration, it has been proven that that any sport helps get rid of excess fats in the bloods. This helps in reduction of chances of clogging of blood veins with fats increasing the amount of strain on the heart while pumping blood. This sport in particular has both high energy requirements and increased respiration thus increases the demand of blood supply per unit time. As a result, the excess glucose in the blood is easily oxidized in respiration reducing the amount of insulin required to convert it for storage. This result in a longer life span of the pancreas since malfunctioning is not easy (Heisman, 2000).
Another positive impact of the sport deduced from the sources is reduction of obesity. This sport calls for vigorous exercise thus any fats in the blood are not allowed to accumulate at any single point. However, this sport does not entirely reduce this chance since this disease is a lifestyle disease (Willy, 2008).
The other observation is that there does not really exist any connection between muscle strength and this sport. In fact, if there exists any connection, it is an inverse relationship. This means that if there is an increase in muscle strength, it occurs at the expense of muscle structure. This is what mainly caused some medical practitioners to oppose the idea of taekwondo on fitness (Heisman, 2000).
Dependent and independent variables of the study
Having read and researched on this topic, it appears that taekwondo is dependent on fitness and fitness is the independent variable in the study. This is mainly because if someone is not medically and physically fit, then he/she cannot fit well in the sport. This makes fitness to be considered more when joining the sport and not the opposite. The only thing that the sport does is finalizing or perfecting on the already acquired fitness.
References
Willy P. 2008. Brazilian journal of Boimotricty: Physical fitness of recreational taekwondo athletes. Ortega Centre Press.
Heisman J. 2000. Scientific Coaching for Olympic Taekwondo. Penguin publishers
