This time, I'd like to talk about training and mouth guards.
Do you wear a mouth guard?
If you're not familiar with them, think of the ones that martial arts athletes wear on their mouths.
In the study I'm going to introduce, they investigated whether weight training with a mouthguard would make any difference for Taekwondo athletes. The study was to find out.
Contents of the study
The purpose of this study was to analyze the effect of wearing or not wearing a mouth guard on masticatory muscle tone and stiffness in male taekwondo athletes during high-intensity weight training.
The participants were male taekwondo athletes between the ages of 18 and 22.
Twenty-four men were randomly divided into a control group (CON; without mouthguard; n = 12) and an experimental group (MOG; with mouthguard; n = 12). Tension and stiffness of the masticatory muscles were measured after weight training at a level of 70% of one repetition maximum.
The results of this study showed that there was no difference in masticatory muscle tone within and between groups after the experiment.
In addition, masticatory muscle stiffness was significantly higher on the dominant side of the MOG, but there was no difference between groups, within groups, or interactions.
Explanation
The results showed that there was no effect on the masticatory muscles when taekwondo athletes wore mouth guards during weight training, where the weight was 70% of the maximum weight that could be lifted and repeated one time.
In general, mouth guards are used when there is a problem with the oral environment, because it is believed that the chewing process is inadequate, and thus the body cannot exert its strength.
I've also talked to specialists who recommend wearing a mouth guard to protect your teeth rather than to increase muscle output.
Surprisingly, it seems to shave the back teeth.
Wang JS, Seo DW, Cha JY. Mouthguard-effect of high-intensity weight training on masticatory muscle tone and stiffness in taekwondo athletes. Rehabil. 2020;16(6):510-515. published 2020 Dec 28. doi:10.12965/jer.2040698.349
Conclusion
The conclusion of the study is that muscle training with a mouth guard on is not that different from without.
There are other studies that have shown that wearing a mouthguard can improve anaerobic exercise performance and hamstring muscle performance, but I think it's better to wear it for the purpose of protecting your teeth.
I'm sorry if you were expecting this.
