Monitoring of bioelectrical and biomechanical signals in Taekwondo training: First insights

Abstract

Taekwondo is an Olympic combat sport that has gained much popularity in the last years. Portugal is not an exception to the substantial growth of this martial art. Currently there are about 4500 practitioners of this art affiliated in the national federation. Several have already produced excellent results not only in national but also in international competitions, recognized by the International Olympic Committee of Portugal, Taekwondo European Union and the World Taekwondo Federation (WTF). This work is a joint project between the University of Minho, Sporting Club de Braga Taekwondo section and the National Technical Team of the Portuguese Federation of Taekwondo. It is aimed at developing a system to analyse, monitor and quantify the athlete performance in real time. The developed system should be able to help the athlete improve his/her technique and performance by monitoring his/her heart rate, analyzing and identifying the technical movements in the training by comparing the various movements performed, as well as quantifying variables related to the athlete’s performance. Visual cues for the heart rate and performance are indicated by LEDs. With this system, we propose a contribution to innovation and development in Taekwondo training.