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Sparring

Sparring is a form of training common to combat sports and martial arts, consisting of controlled practice sessions between participants that mimic contest techniques to enhance athletic and fighting skills without the goal of determining a winner through overwhelming force.^[1] These sessions emphasize the application of offensive and defensive maneuvers, such as punches, kicks, and grapples, in a dynamic environment that simulates real combat while prioritizing safety through regulated intensity and protective equipment.^[2] Unlike competitive bouts, sparring focuses on skill refinement, timing, and strategy development, allowing practitioners to test techniques against resisting opponents in a structured setting.^[1] In various disciplines, sparring takes on specific forms tailored to the sport's rules and objectives. For instance, in boxing, it involves partners exchanging light to moderate blows while wearing headgear, mouthguards, and gloves to practice footwork, combinations, and defensive responses without full-force impacts.^[3] In karate, known as kumite, participants engage in point-based exchanges using strikes and blocks, adhering to rules that limit contact to prevent injury while scoring for effective technique.^[4] Similarly, in taekwondo, kyorugi features timed rounds of kicking and punching aimed at designated scoring areas like the trunk or head, with electronic sensors often used to register points accurately.^[5] These variations highlight sparring's adaptability, from light technical drills to more intense simulations, all designed to build practical proficiency. The practice plays a crucial role in athlete development by bridging theoretical training with applied scenarios, fostering attributes like reaction time, endurance, and tactical awareness under pressure.^[2] Safety protocols, including supervision by certified coaches and mandatory gear, are essential to mitigate risks such as concussions or strains, ensuring sparring remains a constructive tool rather than a harmful activity.^[6] Overall, sparring's structured yet unpredictable nature makes it indispensable for preparing competitors for official matches across global federations like USA Boxing, World Karate Federation, and World Taekwondo.^[7]^[8]

Overview

Definition

Sparring is a controlled form of simulated combat employed as a primary training method in combat sports and martial arts disciplines. It entails practitioners applying techniques such as punching, kicking, grappling, or throwing in a structured manner, with predefined rules and protective equipment to minimize the risk of serious injury and emphasize safety.^[9] This practice allows participants to simulate real combat scenarios while maintaining a focus on technical execution rather than unrestricted aggression.^[10] In contrast to formal competitions, where the objective is to achieve victory through decisive outcomes, sparring prioritizes skill refinement and experiential learning, enabling athletes to experiment with strategies and responses without the full intensity or consequences of a match.^[11] The controlled nature of sparring fosters an environment for iterative improvement, where feedback from coaches and partners helps address weaknesses in timing, positioning, and adaptability.^[12] The term "sparring" derives from the verb "spar," meaning to strike or thrust repeatedly, with its specific application to boxing and combat training emerging in the mid-18th century as a way to describe practice bouts fought without serious intent.^[13] This etymology reflects the activity's roots in preparatory exercises that mimic fighting motions to build proficiency.^[14] Common formats include one-on-one partner drills, which involve two individuals focusing on specific technique exchanges under supervision, and group free-sparring sessions, where multiple participants rotate in more dynamic, less scripted engagements to enhance situational awareness.^[15]

Purpose and Benefits

Sparring, defined as controlled practice simulating combat, primarily aims to cultivate core skills essential for proficiency in combat sports, including timing, distance management, reaction speed, and tactical decision-making under pressure.^[16] Research on boxers demonstrates that varying sparring loads during pre-competition and competition phases directly impact reaction speed, with optimized loads leading to faster responses in straight punches.^[17] In combat sports like karate and fencing, expert athletes exhibit superior perceptual anticipation, enabling precise timing and distance estimation through quicker reactions and efficient visual search strategies during training scenarios.^[18] These elements foster tactical acumen by requiring practitioners to adapt strategies in real-time against resisting opponents, bridging the gap between isolated drills and full competition.^[18] On the psychological front, sparring bolsters confidence by offering tangible successes in high-stakes simulations, as seen in martial arts interventions where participants report elevated self-esteem and self-concept after structured training including intermittent sparring.^[19] It facilitates stress inoculation, acclimating athletes to adversity and reducing performance anxiety through repeated exposure to pressure, which recalibrates emotional responses in dynamic confrontations.^[20] Furthermore, this practice builds mental resilience by enhancing control over stress and viewing challenges as opportunities for growth, with studies on martial arts practitioners showing significant improvements in resilience dimensions like emotional regulation and coping.^[21] Physically, sparring enhances endurance by imposing high-intensity, intermittent demands that elevate cardiovascular fitness and VO₂ max, as observed in young Taekwondo athletes after incorporating small combat games akin to sparring, resulting in moderate to large gains in aerobic capacity.^[22] It also refines coordination and technique application in fluid, unpredictable settings, promoting neuromuscular control and agility through the need to execute movements against active resistance.^[23] Studies from the 2020s underscore sparring's contribution to neural adaptations that refine motor skills in athletes, with combat sports training promoting neural efficiency—characterized by reduced brain activation for superior task performance—via functional neuroimaging of sport-specific actions.^[24] This process leverages neuroplasticity to strengthen connectivity in motor areas, enabling faster skill acquisition and adaptation under duress, as evidenced in expert athletes' optimized cortical responses during complex sequences.^[24]

History

Ancient Origins

The earliest evidence of sparring practices emerges from ancient Egypt around 2000 BCE, where archaeological records indicate mock combats as essential components of warrior training. In Egypt, tomb paintings from the Middle Kingdom site of Beni Hasan vividly depict wrestlers and combatants engaging in hand-to-hand simulations, showcasing techniques such as holds, throws, and strikes designed to prepare soldiers for battle without lethal risk.^[25] These representations, found in the tombs of nomarchs like Baqt III, highlight organized physical drills that emphasized discipline and tactical skill, reflecting a cultural integration of martial preparation with funerary art.^[26] In ancient Greece, the pankration emerged as a foundational form of proto-sparring, officially introduced to the Olympic Games in 648 BCE as the final combat sport alongside wrestling and boxing. This event combined controlled grappling, joint locks, and striking, allowing competitors to practice versatile fighting under rules that prohibited only biting and eye-gouging, thereby simulating battlefield conditions while mitigating extreme injury.^[27] Greek trainers, known as paidotribai, divided pankration preparation into upper-body (ano) and full-contact phases, fostering endurance and technique through progressive sparring that influenced Roman adaptations like gladiatorial contests.^[28] The Spartans particularly emphasized such training within their agoge system during the 5th century BCE, incorporating mock battles to instill resilience. Asian traditions reveal parallel developments in military-focused sparring around 1000 BCE. In early China, texts like the Book of Songs (Shijing) describe ritual archery practices from the Zhou dynasty (c. 1046–256 BCE), conducted in ceremonial settings that emphasized social harmony and later contributed to the development of martial arts such as wushu.^[29] Similarly, in India, kalari payattu emerged as a comprehensive system of unarmed and armed simulations, rooted in the Sangam period (c. 600 BCE–300 CE) of the Chera kingdom, where warriors underwent rigorous training in kalari academies to hone combat skills while adhering to ethical codes that limited harm in duels like ankam.^[30] These ancient roots laid the groundwork for sparring's evolution into structured modern forms.

Modern Evolution

The codification of boxing in the 19th century marked a pivotal shift toward formalized sparring practices in Western combat sports. In 1867, the Marquess of Queensberry rules, drafted by John Graham Chambers and endorsed by John Sholto Douglas, the ninth Marquess of Queensberry, introduced mandatory padded gloves for all matches, replacing the bare-knuckle format that had dominated since the early 18th century. This change aimed to mitigate the extreme brutality of bare-knuckle bouts, which often resulted in severe injuries and prolonged fights without time limits, by standardizing equipment and promoting a safer, more controlled form of stand-up sparring within a 24-foot ring.^[31] In the early 20th century, Eastern martial arts saw parallel developments in structured sparring methodologies. Jigoro Kano, founder of Kodokan judo, established his academy in Tokyo in 1882, integrating randori—free-sparring practice—as a core component to emphasize efficient technique application and physical education over the rigid, combat-focused drills of traditional jujutsu. Similarly, Gichin Funakoshi, a key figure in promoting karate from Okinawa to mainland Japan, oversaw the gradual incorporation of kumite (sparring) into training regimens during the 1920s, evolving from kata-focused solo forms to paired drills that simulated combat while adhering to controlled rules. This integration occurred primarily through university clubs in Tokyo after Funakoshi's relocation in 1922, where students like those at Keio University developed elementary sparring systems to bridge theoretical practice with practical application.^[32]^[33] Following World War II, sparring practices globalized rapidly through cultural exchanges, particularly involving U.S. military personnel stationed in Asia. Korean martial artists demonstrated taekwondo to American soldiers in the 1950s and 1960s, facilitating its transmission to the United States and Europe as veterans returned home and established dojos. This dissemination contributed to taekwondo's standardization and international recognition, culminating in its debut as a demonstration sport at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, where Olympic-style sparring—emphasizing controlled kicks and electronic scoring—gained worldwide visibility and paved the way for its full medal status in 2000.^[34] In the 2010s and 2020s, technological advancements further evolved sparring by introducing data-driven analysis tools. Inertial sensors and motion capture systems emerged around 2010 for performance evaluation in combat sports, allowing practitioners to quantify movement patterns, force output, and technique efficiency during sessions without disrupting flow. By the 2020s, AI-integrated platforms expanded this to real-time feedback in gyms, using computer vision for pose estimation and action recognition to provide personalized coaching on sparring dynamics, as seen in applications for taekwondo and boxing that analyze strike accuracy and defensive responses.^[35]^[36]

Types and Variations

Intensity Levels

Sparring intensity levels in combat sports and martial arts are generally categorized based on the degree of contact and force applied, allowing practitioners to progress from skill-building exercises to realistic fight simulations while minimizing injury risk. These levels provide a structured framework for training, enabling athletes to develop technique, timing, and conditioning at appropriate stages of proficiency.^[37] Light sparring, also known as touch or flow sparring, emphasizes minimal physical contact, typically limited to tagging or touching the opponent to score points without applying significant power. This approach prioritizes accuracy, speed, and technical precision, often resembling point-based systems where strikes are pulled short to avoid impact. For instance, in karate's jiyu ippon kumite, participants execute controlled attacks at reduced speed to focus on form and reaction.^[38]^[37] Moderate sparring introduces controlled power and pace, bridging light and full-contact practices by incorporating partial force with intentional pulls to prevent excessive damage. It stresses timing, defensive maneuvers, and strategic application of techniques, making it a common stepping stone in beginner and intermediate training progressions to build confidence and endurance without overwhelming intensity. Practitioners often agree on a specific percentage of effort, such as 50% power, to maintain focus on skill refinement while simulating resistance.^[37]^[39] Full-contact sparring employs unrestricted force and speed within established rules, replicating the physical and mental demands of actual competition to enhance advanced conditioning, reflexes, and fight-specific adaptations. This level involves full-power strikes and grapples, as seen in Muay Thai clinch work where knee strikes and sweeps are delivered at competition intensity to test durability and decision-making under pressure. It is typically reserved for experienced athletes preparing for bouts, with safeguards like protective gear to manage risks.^[37]^[40] Non-contact variants, such as shadow sparring or drill-based simulations, eliminate opponent interaction entirely to isolate and refine individual skills like footwork, combinations, and defensive patterns against an imagined adversary. Shadow sparring, a staple in boxing and striking arts, involves throwing punches and kicks into the air while visualizing scenarios, promoting muscle memory and aerobic fitness without collision risks. These methods are ideal for warm-ups, recovery sessions, or foundational technique building across all proficiency levels.^[41]^[42]

Discipline-Specific Forms

Sparring takes on distinct forms across combat disciplines, each adapted to the art's core principles, techniques, and cultural context. In karate, kumite refers to the practice of applying offensive and defensive techniques against an opponent in a standing format, with variations including pre-arranged sequences like ippon kumite (one-step sparring) for controlled self-defense drills and jiyu kumite (free sparring) for dynamic, unscripted exchanges.^[43] These forms emphasize precision strikes while maintaining distance and control, often modified by intensity levels to suit training progression. In grappling arts, randori serves as the primary sparring method in judo and aikido, involving free resistance practice where participants apply throws, pins, and joint locks in a fluid, chaotic exchange. In judo, randori typically focuses on standing throws with mutual attempts to off-balance each other, fostering adaptability without rigid choreography.^[44] Aikido's randori extends this to multiple attackers or weapon scenarios in some styles, prioritizing harmonious redirection over direct confrontation.^[45] Wrestling distinguishes live drilling from full sparring, where live drilling simulates resistance through repetitive, scenario-based grappling to build endurance and positioning, contrasting with unstructured live wrestling matches that mimic competition flow.^[46] In Brazilian jiu-jitsu, "rolling" denotes ground-based sparring sessions focused on positional control and submissions, often starting from neutral positions and emphasizing prolonged, adaptive grappling distinct from upright disciplines.^[47] Fencing employs bouting as its sparring format, a scored encounter on a strip where fencers use foil, epee, or saber under strict weapon and right-of-way rules to accumulate touches, limited to three three-minute periods.^[48] Hybrid arts like kickboxing integrate elements from boxing and Muay Thai through controlled rounds, typically two minutes each for three rounds in amateur formats, allowing punches, kicks, and knees while prohibiting clinching to blend striking precision with tactical pacing.^[49] Across these forms, intensity serves as a key modifier, scaling from light technical refinement to high-resistance simulation.

Applications in Combat Sports

Striking Disciplines

In striking disciplines, sparring emphasizes controlled exchanges of punches, kicks, and other strikes to simulate combat scenarios while prioritizing technique and safety. These practices vary by art, ranging from light-contact point systems to fuller-contact bouts, and serve to develop timing, distance management, and defensive skills. In boxing, sparring typically occurs in gloved rounds of 1.5 to 3 minutes each, depending on the athlete's age and experience level, with a focus on delivering precise head and body shots through straight punches, hooks, and uppercuts. Emphasis is placed on footwork—such as pivoting, circling, and maintaining balance—to control range and set up combinations of two to three punches that flow seamlessly without telegraphing intent. This structured approach, often conducted in a ring with protective headgear and 10-16 oz gloves, builds offensive and defensive proficiency while minimizing injury risk through "conditioned" sessions where power is regulated.^[50] Taekwondo and karate employ point-sparring formats, known as kyorigi in taekwondo and kumite in karate, where athletes score by landing controlled strikes to designated areas like the head, trunk, or legs, with continuous full-force contact prohibited to prevent injuries. In taekwondo, electronic scoring systems using sensor-equipped body protectors and headgear—introduced at the 2012 London Olympics and refined in the 2010s, including the introduction of electronic head protectors at the 2016 Rio Olympics—register points for valid kicks and punches, awarding 1-4 points based on technique and impact. Karate kumite similarly limits contact to light, non-injurious taps, with the World Karate Federation (WKF) employing electronic judging aids since the early 2020s to enhance scoring precision during bouts. Headgear has been mandatory in Olympic taekwondo since its demonstration debut in 1988, evolving to include integrated sensors for fairer competition.^[51]^[52]^[43] Muay Thai sparring integrates full-contact elements, including punches, kicks, elbows, and knees, often within clinch exchanges where fighters grip the opponent's neck or arms to deliver short-range strikes to the body or head under controlled conditions. This contrasts with lighter arts by allowing clinch work for up to 90 seconds per bout in training, transitioning from Thai pad drills—where partners hold pads to simulate targets for combinations—to live sparring that tests endurance and adaptability. The International Federation of Muaythai Associations (IFMA) regulates competitive sparring to permit elbows and knees while prohibiting excessive force, ensuring progression from pad work builds power and timing before full exchanges.^[53]^[54] Across these disciplines, training progressions typically advance from non-contact mitt or pad work, which hones isolated techniques and combinations, to controlled live sparring that introduces reactive elements and pressure. For instance, in Olympic taekwondo, athletes start with shadow sparring and progress to sensor-monitored bouts under rules mandating headgear and limited contact to foster strategic kicking while reducing concussion risks. This methodical buildup ensures practitioners master fundamentals before engaging in dynamic, opponent-driven scenarios.^[51]^[50]

Grappling Disciplines

Sparring in grappling disciplines emphasizes controlled application of holds, throws, submissions, and positional control, distinguishing it from striking-based practices by focusing exclusively on clinch and ground work without punches or kicks. These sessions simulate combat scenarios to develop technique under resistance, prioritizing leverage, timing, and transitions between standing and grounded positions. Practitioners progress through varying intensities to build skill and endurance while minimizing injury through cooperative resistance. In judo, randori serves as the primary form of sparring, defined as free practice conducted under contest conditions where participants apply throws, pins, chokes, and joint manipulations such as bending or twisting limbs.^[55] This practice adheres to judo etiquette, allowing any effective method provided it avoids unnecessary harm, and can emphasize physical conditioning or tactical development depending on the session's focus.^[55] Wrestling sparring, often termed live wrestling, mirrors this by centering on throws, takedowns, and pins in dynamic exchanges, with variations including gi grappling for grip-based control or no-gi for faster, slicker transitions akin to freestyle wrestling.^[56] These formats foster chain wrestling sequences where athletes alternate offensive and defensive roles to simulate match flow.^[57] Brazilian jiu-jitsu sparring typically involves positional rolling, starting from specific positions like guard passes or mount to practice transitions leading to submissions such as armbars or chokes.^[58] This non-striking emphasis contributes to relatively low injury rates, with studies from the 2020s reporting an overall incidence of 5.5 injuries per 1,000 training hours.^[59] Sessions often begin with controlled starts to allow skill refinement before escalating to full resistance. Sambo incorporates full-contact rolling in its training, integrating throws, pins, and joint locks in a continuous flow that originated in Soviet military programs during the 1920s, developed by pioneers like Viktor Spiridonov and Vasili Oshchepkov to enhance hand-to-hand combat proficiency.^[60] Catch wrestling employs similar full-contact rolling with an emphasis on aggressive joint locks and submissions, drawing from its historical roots in competitive grappling to force pins or taps through hooks and stretches.^[61] Both disciplines highlight rapid transitions and unyielding pressure in ground exchanges. Training progression in these grappling arts follows a structured model, beginning with static drills to isolate techniques like grip fighting or basic throws, advancing to dynamic resistance where partners apply graduated opposition, and culminating in full sparring to integrate skills under realistic conditions, all while excluding strikes to maintain focus on control and technique.^[62] This layered approach ensures safe adaptation, with intensity levels adjusted—such as light positional work before hard rolls—to align with individual proficiency.

Hybrid and Mixed Arts

Sparring in hybrid and mixed martial arts disciplines integrates striking and grappling techniques across all combat ranges, evolving significantly since the 1990s inception of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). The UFC's founding in 1993 introduced full-contact competitions that blended diverse martial arts, prompting the development of regulated gym sparring practices to mimic these bouts safely. Modern MMA sparring typically involves timed rounds of 3 to 5 minutes, where practitioners alternate between stand-up striking, clinch work, and ground control, often scored similarly to official events using a 10-point must system—such as 10-9 for close rounds or 10-8 for dominant performances—to encourage strategic decision-making without excessive risk.^[63]^[64]^[65] Kickboxing hybrids, particularly the Dutch style, incorporate elements of grappling defense while emphasizing aggressive striking in sparring sessions. Under Dutch kickboxing rules, low kicks to the thighs and knees to the body are permitted, allowing practitioners to target legs and midsection while prohibiting prolonged clinching or elbows to maintain a fast-paced flow. These rules facilitate hybrid sparring that prepares fighters for mixed scenarios, such as transitioning from low kicks to takedown defenses, fostering adaptability in environments like K-1 promotions where such techniques are standard.^[66] Early 2000s controversies surrounding head trauma in MMA highlighted the dangers of frequent full-contact sparring, exemplified by former UFC lightweight champion Jamie Varner's 2015 retirement at age 30 after accumulating over 30 concussions primarily from training. Varner attributed his cognitive issues, including constant migraines and memory lapses, to sparring three times weekly with heavier opponents from 2006 to 2010, advising fighters to limit sessions to once weekly or every other week and prioritize non-contact alternatives like grappling drills. This case influenced a broader shift in MMA gyms toward reduced sparring frequency to mitigate long-term brain injury risks.^[67] Recent 2024 research underscores ongoing concerns with weekly MMA sparring, revealing cognitive impairments such as slowed mental processing speed and reduced indirect memory in practitioners sparring twice weekly compared to those training without head impacts. These findings, based on pre- and post-bout assessments, link repetitive head blows (averaging 14 per session) to measurable deficits, prompting recommendations for monitored training protocols. In response, modern trends favor hybrid drills like positional sparring, which constrain full-contact elements—such as prohibiting head strikes—to enhance skill transfer while minimizing cognitive risks, as demonstrated in ecological dynamics-based programs.^[68]

Safety and Regulations

Protective Gear

Protective gear is fundamental to sparring across combat sports, designed to absorb impacts and minimize injury risk while allowing freedom of movement. Essential items include mouthguards, which safeguard teeth and jaws using shock-absorbing gel materials for custom fit and durability; headgear, featuring multi-layer foam padding to cushion strikes to the face and skull; gloves with reinforced foam interiors to protect both the wearer and opponent from hand and wrist injuries; shin guards constructed from dense foam covered in synthetic leather for leg impact resistance; and groin protectors incorporating foam or gel padding to shield vital areas.^[69]^[70]^[71] Discipline-specific variations reflect the unique demands of each art. In taekwondo, full protective suits are standard, including chest protectors known as hogu—introduced in the 1950s to target scoring areas on the torso while absorbing high-velocity kicks and punches.^[72] Conversely, Brazilian jiu-jitsu emphasizes minimal equipment, relying primarily on rash guards made from moisture-wicking spandex-polyester blends to prevent mat burns, skin infections, and sweat transfer during grappling exchanges.^[73] Technological innovations have enhanced gear functionality beyond basic padding. Sensor-embedded gloves, pioneered through a 2015 patent incorporating accelerometers and gyroscopes, enable real-time monitoring of punch force and impact data to optimize training intensity.^[74] Ventilated helmets with open-top designs and strategic airflow panels similarly address overheating, helping to reduce heat buildup during extended sessions compared to fully enclosed models.^[75] Selection of protective gear prioritizes proper sizing for a snug yet non-restrictive fit, ensuring coverage without impeding technique execution. Compliance with certification standards, such as the EN 13277-1 framework established in 2000, confirms equipment meets rigorous tests for impact absorption, ergonomics, and harmless materials.^[76]

Injury Risks and Prevention

Sparring in combat sports exposes participants to notable injury hazards, with concussions emerging as a primary risk due to repetitive head impacts. A 2014 University of Toronto study found that mixed martial arts (MMA) fighters suffer traumatic brain injuries in nearly 30% of professional bouts, often stemming from full-contact exchanges.^[77] Sprains frequently affect joints and extremities, accounting for 39% of reported musculoskeletal issues across disciplines. These risks escalate in full-contact settings, where sessions conducted twice weekly correlate with progressive cognitive decline, including impairments in mental processing speed (up to 14.6 seconds slower after two years) and inhibitory control (up to 10 arbitrary units decline).^[78]^[79] Prevention strategies emphasize structured oversight and controlled progression to minimize these dangers. Coach supervision ensures adherence to technique and immediate intervention during unsafe moments, significantly lowering incidence rates. Implementing round limits of 3-5 minutes per session curbs fatigue and cumulative stress, aligning with standard protocols in professional training environments. Routine medical evaluations, including baseline cognitive assessments, facilitate early identification and management of potential issues like subclinical concussions. Gradually increasing sparring intensity fosters physiological adaptation, building resilience without overwhelming the body.^[80]^[81]^[79] Statistical analyses from 2020s meta-reviews highlight disparities in injury profiles across disciplines, informing targeted risk reduction. Grappling arts like Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ) exhibit lower overall rates, at approximately 5.5 injuries per 1,000 training hours, compared to striking-dominant sports where MMA competitions yield 22.9-28.6 injuries per 100 participant exposures—roughly 2-3 times higher when adjusted for exposure time. This variance underscores the protective role of non-striking mechanics in reducing head and joint trauma.^[59]^[82]^[83] Evolving practices have shifted away from outdated pre-2020 approaches that prioritized volume, such as excessive heavy bag sessions leading to hand and wrist overuse injuries from repetitive impact without adequate rest. Contemporary protocols now integrate recovery-focused methods, including active rest periods and inflammation management, to sustain long-term athlete health and performance. Protective gear serves as an additional mitigation tool by absorbing impacts during controlled drills.^[84]^[85]

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Top MMA Shin Guards and Gloves for Maximum Protection
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multi-layer foam padding, reinforced stitching, plus wrist support that keeps you locked in. Toss on their ...
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53.6% athletes suffered injury in the last 12 months. The most common were tendon injuries (39%) and sprains (39%), followed by dislocation/subluxation (23%).
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Combat athletes may experience inflammation and muscle soreness, temporary reduction in muscular force production, and an increased risk of injury up to 24 ...