Research in Sport Medicine and Technology

The fencing lunge is one of the most common and fundamental attacking moves in fencing. The aim of this study was to provide kinematical compare of upper extremity among elite female and male senior fencers when performing a lunge.  Four female and four male members of Iran National Team were selected as research sample. The participants were filmed when performing a complete lunge with a camera of 300 Hz sampling rate to evaluate kinematical parameters. The student's-t test revealed that elite male fencers had significantly shorter reaction and movement time comparing with elite female fencers. No major differences in other kinematic parameters indicate that elite male and female fencers performed lunge in similar way. The final conclusion of this study is that the existing differences in time of lunge technique may suggest the need for alternative training strategies to prepare fencing athletes.The examination of the kinematic analysis of the upper body in male and female elite fencers demonstrated that the dissimilarity in the execution speed of the lunge technique between the two genders cannot be accounted for by kinematic changes in joint movements. The differences highlighted in this study can serve as a basis for formulating distinct training and coaching strategies, with the aim of better preparing athletes for decision making and quick movements.