subject: Martial Arts Adopt Pulse Oximeters [print this page] Since the days of Bruce Lee, martial arts have been a growing cult within the United States. Thousands of kids every year embark on their journey for blackbelts and tournaments testing their skills and knowledge. Just like any other sport out there, as technology has advanced, so have sports. Today there are many different devices out there using for training, which serve various purposes. These measurements help athletes better target their goals and better identify their areas of improvement.
Recently, martial artists have adopted pulse oximeters to their bag of tools. One of the most important aspects of training and maintaining speed and strength in martial arts is in relation to breathing. Breathing correctly, and at the right pace has shown strength levels to increase. This is one major reason why many martial arts today practice katas, or forms in their training regiments. Katas focus on specific movements, while requiring the martial artist to focus on his or her breathing. We all can easily recognize a load, "Hiyaa" yell, but have you ever wondered why that is done? The idea behind the yelling is to one, scare your opponent, but also to help maintain ones breathing and tighten the abdomen area.
During the training process, martial artists use pulse oximeters to measure their oxygen saturation levels to help determine if they are breathing correctly during training. Pulse oximeters also give their pulse rate readings, which is key for achieving the optimum cardio levels for an athlete. Pulse oximeters have proven to not only be accurate in their readings, but also very portable. Martial artists can easily travel to various venues for tournaments with their pulse oximeter in hand. A simple survey of 25 martial artists revealed that the most popular pulse oximeter is the Landon Medical LM-800, which sells for under $40.
