The aim of this study was to determine the differences in performance, cardiac, and metabolic variables of combat-specific fitness of wrestlers from varying sports levels. The sample consisted of 61 active and highly trained adult wrestlers of national and international levels from Serbia, from both Greco-Roman and freestyle forms of wrestling, allocated into three groups: national team wrestlers (N = 15), first league competitive wrestlers (N = 20), and second league competitive wrestlers (N = 26). Participants performed two tests: a Specific Wrestling Fitness Test (SWFT) and a Specific Wrestling Performance Test (SWPT). Between-group differences were determined using multiple analysis of variance (MANOVA). Significant differences were obtained between wrestlers of different sports levels in TnThrows (F = 77.491, p < 0.001), SJFIndex (F = 49.710, p < 0.001), and SWPIndex (F = 31.205, p < 0.001) in the SWFT and in TnThrows (F = 71.051, p < 0.001), SJFIndex F = 45.343, p < 0.001), and SWPIndex (F = 26.820, p < 0.001) in the SWPT. Based on the results, it could be concluded that the SWFT and the SWPT provide very good sensitivity in the evaluation of the wrestlers specific fitness of wrestlers.
Keywords: combat sports; discriminative; testing; wrestling.
© 2022 Milan Marković, Lazar Toskić, Filip Kukić, Ivan Zarić, Milivoj Dopsaj, published by Sciendo.