The effects of a six week Exogen training program on punching and kicking impact power in amateur male combat athletes: A pilot study

The purpose of the present study was to examine the effect of a six-week Exogen combat program, on punching and kicking impact power in amateur male combat athletes. A convenience sample of 17 amateur male combat athletes with at least two years combat training experience were assigned to either an Exogen combat (EXO, n=10) who performed two weekly combat training sessions whilst wearing the EXO garment for six weeks. or conventional combat training group (CT, n=7) who performed two weekly combat training sessions for six weeks, without the Exogen garment. The following variables: lead-hand jab, rear-hand cross, front kick and roundhouse kick mean impact power, vertical jump height, and five-repetition maximum (5RM) half-squat and bench press, were measured using standard protocols before and after the training intervention. Six weeks of EXO training significantly improved lead-hand jab impact power by 25.9%, rear-hand cross impact power by 51.2%, vertical jump height by 19.2%, 5RM bench press 6.0% and 5RM half-squat by 6.9% . Whilst not reaching significance, similar improvements in 5RM bench press and half-squat strength was observed in the CT group. These data suggest that six weeks of Exogen combat training with loading up to 4.5% of body mass may be more beneficial than conventional combat training, for punching impact power and vertical jump height, in amateur male combat athletes.