Introduction to badminton from scientific perspective
Badminton has been present since a long time but it developed as a modern day sport in 19th century. It originated from an older sibling game being played in India from centuries, the game rose to the liking of expatriate officers from the British raj and some who went back to England started the badminton association of England under revised rules and regulations. Since then it grew in fame across all the continents but its dominance within the Asian countries was undoubtedly the greatest. In 1992 it got inducted into Olympic summer sport games.
Badminton, under the new rules, is approximately a 40 minute long game and is packed with a lot of action to be precise. The viewers are under the spell of ‘Blink and miss’. This intensity creates a huge demand for physically primed badminton players who can compete at an international level.
Science behind the sport Badminton
Badminton is hugely a mixture of aerobic and anaerobic endurance as well as capacity. Strength takes a sublime undertone in this game. Strength in the shots is developed functionally and so is strength endurance. The more games you play the more precise and prolific your strength becomes.
Quick overview of details of a single badminton game (evidence based)
- Badminton is a high demanding game including both aerobic (60-70%) and anaerobic systems (30-40%)
- Visual tracking and co-ordination skills of badminton players are sound enough to help them in in-game tracking of the shuttlecock
- Players use the proximal-distal chain action to efficiently launch the shuttlecock combining it with the deflection of the racket
- Average heart rate crosses the 90% barrier of maximal heart rate(MHR) in the game
- A rally lasts for 7sec on an average with resting time around 15sec giving us an effective play time of 31%
- Main biomechanical movements taking place during a game are lunging, jumping and multidirectional arm swings
- Power generation is mainly a result of intense clocking up movements in a short period of time
This said, badminton as a sport is very interesting to watch as well as a good recreational sport to play for fitness in all ages. It helps visual prowess as well as burns a lot of calories in very less amount of time (400-500). Many individuals resort to this game as a hobby and later play it recreationally. Also considering it as a career are many individuals who aspire to win the prestigious All-England championship as well as gold in the Olympics for their nation.
Physiology of the sport
Badminton is a sport of great physical demands and hence it is necessary to be In the right shape and at the right time too. By right shape, I don’t mean the physiological profile only, I also am giving a recommendation for multiple peaks that a player should achieve for his tournaments.
The right shape
This category can be divided into 2 sub groups namely the elite and the sub elite. For elites, the ranks I would choose are below BWF(badminton world federation) 50. Sub-elites range above the 50 till 200. The gap, in my opinion, is supposed to be this wide due to the possibility of any player in these ranks having the capability to get into top 50 and subsequently provide equivalent competition to the elite players.
There is also a stark difference between the basic anthropometric characteristics of these players as seen in the table below.
| Index | Elite(M/F) | Sub-elite(M/F) |
| Age (years) | 24.6+3.7 (19.8–31.3 | 20.5+0.7 (19.2–21.4) |
| Body mass (kg) | 73.2+7.6 (63.6–89.0) | 62.7+4.2 (57.2–69.9) |
| Standing height (m) | 1.76+0.07 (1.65–1.88) | 1.71+0.05 (1.61–1.78) |
| Arm span (cm) | 177.6+7.7 (165.8–190.3)* | 173.0+6.5 (160.1–181.8) |
| Body mass index (kg _ m72) | 23.5+2.0 (21.0–26.6) | 21.6+1.4 (19.4–24.3) |
| Body fat (%) | 12.5+4.8 (5.9–19.6) | 9.5+3.4 (6.1–17.3) |
| Lean body mass (kg) | 63.6+5.8 (55.1–57.4) | 56.3+4.1 (50.7–63.9 |
| Estimated _V O2max (ml _ kg71 _ min71) | 56.9+3.7 (50.8–64.0) | 59.5+5.2 (50.8–69.5) |
On an average the elite player ages in his mid 20’s whilst the sub-elite in his early 20’s. The age defined refinement of the players in the elite group has a marked effect on other biological characteristics too. The body weight for elite athlete being an average of 73 and sub-elite being 62. The armspan is 4cm wider in elites than in sub-elites. The lean body mass and body fat percentage in the sub-elite group puts them at an physiological average than their elite counterparts. This happens due to the fact that sub-elite group have to slog hard and play multiple tournaments as compared to elites. This also affects the estimated aerobic capacity(VO2 max) the difference being a staggering 3 ml/kg/min.
Inference can be made that elites are physically primed to match the characteristics of the game whilst having the sword of experience by their side. The sub-elites, although in a growing phase, compensate for what they lack physically with what they can train physically. They gain experience to eventually rise up in rankings.
Somatotyping of players is quintessential tool in measuring the performance, the average elite player on a superseries has a body nearing ecto-mesomorphic musculature. This signifies the need for lean body to move swiftly and reach for shuttles along with a muscle strength and power to implement the shot with the desired force. The perfect shape for the sport!
The great debate:
That said, are these measures the only ones required in this sport? Straight out NO is the answer. The power and strength compatriots are one of the finest performance markers for badminton players. Once you start looking at the strength markers, Badminton requires muscle endurance and strength in an equivalent ratio.
Strength markers commonly used are 1RM bench press, 1RM squats. Badminton requires the upper and lower body to work in unison, a majority of the game is based on trained reaction time, anticipation and a lot of co-ordination.
The elites bench press around 76.9 +/- 9.6 kgs at 1RM and squat almost double weight in 143.2 +/-7.4 kgs. The more strength subsequently generates more power as proven through investigations. The Squat jump and countermovement jumps measured were around 42.7 cm and 46.3cm on an average respectively. Repeated jumps on the court are what’s required of players to compete for the titles and hence another measure namely bounce drop jumps were also measured which averaged at 34.5cm also they had an average reaction speed at 1.50sec.
These are perpetually the finest measures conducted across a study on Malaysian players across the elite groups. The Malaysians have dominated the badminton circuit for multiple years with current legend Lee chong wei leading the way. These measures can surely be taken into consideration to enhance the performance of badminton players.
Hope this information was of use and will help improve the performance of your players!
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