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Comparison of the physical tness traits of Azerbaijan and Iran
senior Greco-Roman national wrestling teams
Rahmani F.ABCDE , Mirzaei B.ABCDE
Department of Exercise Physiology, Faculty of Sport Sciences, University of Guilan, Rasht, Iran
Authors’ Contribution: A – Study design; B – Data collection; C – Statistical analysis; D – Manuscript Preparation;
E – Funds Collection.
Abstract
Purpose: The aim of the present investigation was to compare of the physical tness traits of Azerbaijan and Iran senior
Greco-Roman national wrestling teams.
Material: In this study, 10 elite wrestlers (age 27.7±3.5 years and training background 8.5±2 years) of the senior national
wrestling team of Azerbaijan were measured in body composition attributes, muscular strength, muscular
endurance, maximal oxygen consumption, exibility, agility, speed, anaerobic power and explosive power
and the results were compared to the national Greco-Roman wrestling team of Iran.
Results: The results of this study, using t-test, showed that the mean of squats (P=0.013) and 40-yd sprint (P=0.004) in
wrestlers of Azerbaijan’s team were signicantly better than Iran’s average norm. However, the values of sit-
ups (P=0.030), pull-ups (P=0.000) and 4×9-m shuttle run (P=0.024) the mean were signicantly lower in the
wrestlers of Azerbaijan compared to the norm of Iranian wrestlers.
Conclusions: The results of the physical tness tests determine the strengths and weaknesses of the training programs
and provide practical guidance to coaches in order to assess the extent of wrestlers likely progress or slump.
Keywords:elite, prole, test, body composition, strength, anaerobic power.
Introduction1
As one of the heaviest and highest-pressure combat
sports, lots of challenges and complications have
accompanied wrestling. The interference of different
energy systems involved in conducting a wrestling
contest on the one hand, and being among weight
sensitive sports on the other hand, has made athletes and
coaches pay special attention to tness programs and their
undeniable contribution to sporting situations [1]. One of
the constant challenges faced by coaches and wrestlers is
the availability of information about the physical factors
affecting the success of wrestlers [2]. Using physical
tness tests can provide valuable information about the
physical characteristics of wrestlers [2].
The implementation of physical tness tests is a part
of the program for assessing the effectiveness of high-
level wrestlers training at international and universal
levels. The results of these tests make it possible to
identify the weaknesses and strengths of the wrestlers, to
recognize the level of differences between them and to
conduct necessary planning to overcome weaknesses and
deciencies [3-5]. If these results are measured by relevant
norms, they will provide practical guidance to coaches in
order to assess the extent of wrestlers’ likely progress or
slump. Assessing the relative strength and weakness of
wrestlers can be a basis for developing a desirable training
program [3]. Considering the importance of the issue, a
signicant part of the studies on the physical tness of
wrestlers has been done on the physiological [6-8] and
anthropometric proles of a wrestling team [9-11] and in
some cases only one wrestler [12, 13].
Štajer et al. [9] described the physical tness prole
of the Serbian Greco-Roman wrestlers in a study.
© Rahmani F., Mirzaei B., 2019
doi:10.15561/20755279.2019.0307
They measured four variables of maximum oxygen
consumption, oxygen consumption at the anaerobic
threshold, maximum heart rate and heart rate at the
anaerobic threshold. Chaabene et al. [14], in a review
article analysed 71 articles in which aerobic and anaerobic
characteristics, isometric strength, strength, strength-
endurance, and exibility were measured.
In a study, Arsalanoglu [15] described the physical
prole of the young Turkish wrestlers. He measured
rest heart rate, exibility, vertical jumping, 10-20-30m
speed, aerobic power, strength, visual and auditory
response and fat percentage. Mirzaei et al. [2] described
the physiological prole of young wrestlers of the Iranian
elite free style team. They measured exibility (sit and
reach test), maximal oxygen consumption, maximal
anaerobic leg power, muscular strength and endurance,
speed agility and body composition.
In another study, Mirzaei et al. [6] described the
physiological prole of Greco-Roman wrestlers of
the Iranian senior national team. They measured body
composition, relative muscular strength, local muscular
endurance, cardio respiratory endurance, speed, agility,
exibility, reaction time, alactic anaerobic power, lactate
anaerobic power, and legs explosive power. Rahmani-Nia
et al. [16] described the physiological prole of Iranian
young Greco-Roman elite wrestlers. They measured the
maximum oxygen consumption, muscular endurance,
muscle strength, speed, agility and exibility. Yoon
[10] reported that the maximum oxygen consumption
of wrestlers participating in international competitions
is about 53-56 ml.kg-1min-1. He also pointed out that the
exibility of elite wrestlers is higher than wrestlers of
lower level. Callan et al. [18] dened the physiological
prole of American wrestlers who participated in the
preparation of the World Championships 1997 in 6
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physiological parameters. In this study, upper-body
muscular power and endurance, body composition, lower-
body muscular power, upper-body power and anaerobic
capacity, peak aerobic power (peak Vo2), using treadmill
or cycle ergometer; and lower back/hamstring exibility
and blood lactate taken 2 minutes after Wingate test
and peak Vo2 were measured. They concluded that the
physiological and physical tness proling of American
wrestlers could describe the physical condition of the
American wrestlers to provide training approaches to
their coaches.
Therefore, considering the necessity of performing
physical tness tests in determining the strengths and
weaknesses of the elite wrestlers, the present study aims
to describe the physical tness prole of the Greco-
Roman wrestlers of the senior national team of Azerbaijan
and compare them to the norms of Iranian national Greco-
Roman wrestling team.
Materials and Methods
Participants
Ten elite wrestlers (age 27.7±3.5 years and training
background 8.5±2 years) of the senior national wrestling
team of Azerbaijan participated in the study. The
participants were selected with European, world and
Olympic titles.
Research Design
A descriptive research study was conducted with top
senior Greco-Roman wrestlers. The wrestlers were asked
not to participate in a daily training program within 24
hours prior to testing and they informed about the tests
and study protocols. Testing was completed for all
wrestlers in the same place and time of day. Testing and
measurements included body composition attributes (fat
percentage, lean body mass, body mass index), relative
muscular strength (grip force, bench press and squat),
local muscular endurance (sit-ups, push-ups and pull-
ups), maximal oxygen consumption (Bruce protocol),
exibility (sit and reach test), agility (4×9-m shuttle
run), speed (40-yd sprint), alactic anaerobic power (leg
and arm Wingate tests), and explosive power (long jump).
All wrestlers were assessed during the general preparation
phase of the season.
Statistical Analysis
Before analysis, Normality of the distribution was
analyzed using Shapiro-Wilk test. Descriptive statistics
were used to calculate the mean and standard deviations of
data and to use inferential statistics of single-sample t- test
to compare the mean of physical tness characteristics of
two teams. The level of signicance for all statistics was
set at p<0.05. SPSS 25, software was used to calculate
the data.
Results
Table 1 shows the body composition attributes and
table 2 shows the results of the tness tests of the wrestlers
Table 1. Single-sample t-test results for comparing the body composition attributes of Azerbaijan with Iran
Body composition attributes Mean ± Std. Deviation Sig. (2-tailed)
Azerbaijan Iran
Body fat (%) 9.01±4.63 11.3±3.8 -.125
BMI (kg/m2) 26.5±4.28 26.9±4 0.775
LBM (kg) 73.05±14.72 71.8±15.5 0.794
Note: BMI = Body Mass Index, LBM = Lean Body Mass
Table 2. Single-sample t-test results for comparing the fitness tests of Azerbaijan with Iran
Fitness tests Mean ± Std. Deviation Sig. (2-tailed)
Azerbaijan Iran
Grip force (kg-1) 0.91±0.03 0.91±0.13 0.761
Bench press (W.kg-1) 1.49±0.13 1.42±0.18 0.119
Squat (W.kg-1) 2.06±0.31 1.76±0.26 0.013*
Sit-ups (n/min) 67.5±4.67 71.3±7.1 0.030*
Push-ups (n/min) 66±4.78 68±8.7 0.219
Pull-ups (n) 19.6±8.34 33.6±11 0.000*
Vo2max (ml.kg-1min-1) 50.24±3.07 50.4±5.4 0.878
Sit and reach (cm) 39±1.63 39.3±5.9 0.576
4×9-m shuttle run (s) 8.81±0.21 9±0.42 0.024*
40-yd sprint (s) 5.40±0.23 5.13±0.21 0.004*
Arm Wingate (W) 407.8±78.85 414±109.2 0.809
Leg Wingate (W) 481.9±70.15 475±89.4 0.763
Long jump (cm) 242.7±6.65 240.2±16.9 0.265
Note. * P< 0.05
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of Azerbaijan wrestling team and compares it with the
average norms of Iranian team.
The results of tables 1 and 2 showed that the mean of
squats (P=0.013) and 40-yd sprint (P=0.004) in wrestlers
of Azerbaijan’s team were signicantly better than Iran’s
average norm. However, the values of sit-ups (P=0.030),
pull-ups (P=0.000) and 4×9 meters shuttle run (P=0.024)
the mean were signicantly lower in the wrestlers of
Azerbaijan compared to the norm of Iranian wrestlers. In
other values, there were no signicant difference between
the wrestlers of the national wrestling team of Azerbaijan
and the average norm of Iran’s (P> 0.05).
Discussion
One of the challenges that attracts the attention of
coaches and sports experts is identifying the physical
factors affecting performance [19]. Access to the physical
tness prole of wrestlers, while describing the existing
conditions, will be a criterion for other wrestlers to be
evaluated. The results of physical tness tests, identies
the strengths and weaknesses of the training programs,
and provide practical guidance to the coaches in order to
assess the extent to which the wrestlers may progress or
fall [20]. Therefore, Coaches can help athletes to achieve
their peak performance and championship through
systematic and scientic planning, without wasting time
and money [1].
According to the results of this study, there was no
signicant difference between fat percentage, body mass
index and lean body mass of wrestlers in Azerbaijan and
Iran, which matched the ndings of the Zaccagni study
[21] in fat percentage and body mass index, which was
reported as 10.1 and 24.5, respectively. In addition, the
result of LBM was consistent with the study by Ratamess
et al. [22], which reported a rate of 67.1.
The results of the muscular strength tests indicate
that the Azerbaijani wrestlers in the Squat test have a
higher mean than Iranian wrestlers, which can be helpful
in performing lifts in different techniques. In general,
successful wrestlers have more dynamic and static
strength than the less successful ones [17].
According to the results of muscular endurance tests,
the Azerbaijani wrestlers were higher than Iranian norms
in two tests (pull-ups and sit-ups). The results of these
two tests were consistent with the study by Chaabene et
al. [14], in which they reported a total of 52 repetitions per
minute for sit-ups, and more consistent with the pull-ups,
which reported 15-50 repetitions.
Based on the ndings of this study, the values of the
Iranian wrestlers were not signicantly different from
Azerbaijan team, which is consistent with the ndings
of Stajer et al. [9] who reported the amount of Vo2max
as 50.51 ml.kg-1min-1. In another study, Chaabene et al.
[14] reported a mean value of Vo2max of 37-67 ml.kg-
1min-1, which is consistent with the results of the present
study.
Although the changes made to wrestling rules have
reduced the aerobic system portion compared with the
anaerobic system in energy generation during a wrestling
match, the availability of the high Vo2max helps faster
and more efcient recovery for wrestlers between two
heavy training sessions or two consecutive matches. This
is true even about short rests during a wrestling match [1].
In the exibility test, there was no signicant
difference in the results of sit and reach test between
wrestlers of Azerbaijan and Iran. Which is consistent with
the study by Chaabene et al. [14], which reported a 18-45
cm sit and reach exibility test. In addition, Yoon [17]
reported that the exibility of elite wrestlers is higher than
lower-level wrestlers.
The results of the agility test in a 4х9-m shuttle run
show that the average of the records of the Azerbaijani
wrestlers was less than that of Iran. This excellence
can contribute to the rapid implementation of wrestling
techniques, which is consistent with Mirzaei et al. [2],
who reported a 7.8 s in a study.
There was no signicant difference between the
wrestlers of Azerbaijan and Iran in the speed test, 40-yd
sprint. Which was higher in the study of Mirzaei et al. [2],
which recorded a record of 5.7 s.
No signicant difference was observed between the
wrestlers of Azerbaijan and Iran in the testing of the alactic
anaerobic power and legs explosive power. This feature
brings many help to wrestlers in the implementation of
speedy techniques and quick reactions. High anaerobic
power and legs explosive power are essential for the
success in performing techniques such as high dive or
lifting opponents like Reverse lift [12].
Conclusion
In general, considering that the analysis of physical
tness tests in both teams of Azerbaijan and Iran shows
that they are both efcient, and the results are constant
with other studies conducted on elite athletes, but with
it cannot be claimed so assertively that the only factor
affecting the performance of Azerbaijani and Iranian
wrestlers, who have always been among the world’s top
teams, is physical tness. Although having a high physical
tness, from a theoretical point of view, can be related
to sporting success, but in no way guarantees a denitive
victory; but it is just a ring of championship chains. Other
rings of this chain also more or less inuence the process
of the championship. Some of the most important factors
affecting this are; the coaches’ knowledge of the correct
implementation of the principles of training, proper
training, proper technique and tactics, correct assessment
of the opponent, nutrition and correct weight control, sleep
and rest, illnesses and injuries, psychological and stress
factors, team management and leadership, the importance
of the result of the match, the proper management of
participating in preparatory matches, and so on. Although
the importance of all of the abovementioned factors is not
the same, however, in order to achieve consistent success
in the international level, all the above factors should be
considered.
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Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the study participant
for their dedication and effort throughout the study.
Conict of interest
The authors declare that there is no conict of interest.
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Information about the authors:
Rahmani F.: (Corresponding author); http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7570-0026: m.foadrahmani@yahoo.com: University of
Guilan: Rasht, Khalij Fars highway, 5th kilo meter of Ghazvin road, Postal Code 4199613776, Iran.:
Mirzaei B.: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3723-7434: bmirzaei2000@yahoo.com: University of Guilan: Rasht, Khalij Fars highway,
5th kilo meter of Ghazvin road, Postal Code 4199613776, Iran.
Cite this article as:
Rahmani F , Mirzaei B. Comparison of the physical tness traits of Azerbaijan and Iran senior Greco-Roman national wrestling
teams. Physical education of students, 2019;23(3):155–159.
https://doi.org/10.15561/20755279.2019.0307
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits
unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.en
Received: 15.04.2019
Accepted: 20.05.2019; Published: 28.06.2019
