Effects of Olympic combat sports on physical fitness in non-athlete students: A systematic review with meta-analysis

Jordan Hernandez Martinez^1,2Izham Cid-Calfucura³Eduardo Guzmán-Muñoz^4,5Tomás Herrera-Valenzuela⁶Pedro Delgado-Floody⁷Cristian Núñez-Espinosa⁸Braulio Branco⁹Jorge Mota¹⁰Hadi Nobari¹¹Joaquin Perez-Carcamo¹Edgar Vásquez-Carrasco^12,13Pablo Valdés-Badilla^14,15*

• ¹Department of Physical Activity Sciences, Universidad de Los Lagos, Osorno, Chile
• ²Department of Education, Faculty of Humanities, Universidad de la Serena, La Serena, Chile
• ³Escuela de Ciencias del Deporte y Actividad Física, Facultad de Salud, Universidad Santo Tomás, UST, Santiago, Chile
• ⁴School of Kinesiology, Faculty of Health, Universidad Santo Tomás, Talca, Chile
• ⁵School of Pedagogy in Physical Education, Faculty of Education, Universidad Autónoma de Chile, Talca, Chile
• ⁶Department of Physical Activity, Sports and Health Sciences, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Universidad de Santiago de Chile (USACH),, Santiago, Chile
• ⁷Department of Physical Education, Sport, and Recreation, Universidad de La Frontera, Temuco, Chile
• ⁸School of Medicine, Universidad de Magallanes, Punta Arenas, Chile
• ⁹Graduate Program in Health Promotion, Cesumar University (UniCesumar), Maringá, Brazil
• ¹⁰Research Centre of Physical Activity, Health, and Leisure, Laboratory for Integrative and Translational Research in Population Health (ITR), Faculty of Sports, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal
• ¹¹Department of Exercise Physiology, Faculty of Educational Sciences and Psychology, University of Mohaghegh, Ardili, Iran
• ¹²School of Occupational Therapy, Faculty of Psychology, Universidad de Talca, Talca, Chile
• ¹³School of Occupational Therapy, Faculty of Psychology, Universidad de Talca, Talca 3465548, Chile, Talca, Chile
• ¹⁴Department of Physical Activity Sciences, Faculty of Education Sciences, Universidad Católica del Maule, Talca, Chile
• ¹⁵Sports Coach Career, School of Education, Universidad Viña del Mar, Viña del Mar, Chile

Introduction: Olympic combat sports (OCS) present complex physical characteristics where cardiorespiratory fitness, flexibility, postural balance, endurance, agility, speed, strength, and muscular power are determinants of physical fitness. This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to evaluate the effects of OCS interventions on selected physical fitness outcomes among school-aged and university students, compared with active or standard. Methods: A systematic literature search was conducted in May 2024 and April 2025 using seven generic databases—PubMed, ProQuest, EBSCOhost, CINAHL Complete, Scopus, Web of Science (core collection), and PEDro (Physiotherapy Evidence Database). The methodological quality and certainty of evidence were assessed using the PRISMA, TESTEX, RoB 2, and GRADE tools. The Hedge; s g effect sizes were computed. Potential sources of heterogeneity, such as subgroup analyses (type of control group, dosage training and age range), were chosen using a fixed-effects or random-effects model, with a minimum of three studies for the corresponding meta-analyses. The protocol was registered in PROSPERO (code: CRD42023391433). Results: Of 1,539 records, 9 RCTs and 4 NRCTs with 1,314 participants were included. Six overall and three subgroup meta-analyses showed significant increases in standing long jump (ES = 1.04; p < 0.001) and sit-and-reach (ES = 0.80; p < 0.05), with no significant differences (p > 0.05) in maximal isometric handgrip strength (MIHS; ES = 0.60), Sargent jump (ES = 0.18), VO2max (ES = 0.39) and 20-meters shuttle run test (ES = 0.27). While in the subgroups by dosage in sit-and-reach there were significant improvements (ES = 0.90 to 1.13; p < 0.001) in <60 minutes per session and according to age range in university students in favor of OCS. Meanwhile in MIHS according to control group, there were significant increases (ES = 0.21; p < 0.05) in favor of OCS versus physical education. Conclusions: The findings suggest that OCS can be a beneficial addition in standing long jump and sit-and-reach. It does not show improvements in cardiorespiratory fitness, MIHS and Sargent jump. However, with respect to dose and age range <60 minutes in university students is adequate to improve sit-and-reach. OCS is more effective in improving MIHS compared to physical education.