ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Physiol.
Sec. Exercise Physiology
This article is part of the Research TopicIntegrating Science and Practice: Bridging the Gap for Enhanced Sports PerformanceView all 13 articles
Reliability and Validity of the "XingXun" System for Measuring Punch Acceleration and Velocity in Elite Boxers
Provisionally accepted
- 1Harbin Normal University, Harbin, China
- 2Shanghai University of Sport, Shanghai, China
- 3Huzhou University, Huzhou, China
- 4University Academy 92 Limited, Manchester, United Kingdom
- 5Dalian University, Dalian, China
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Punching velocity-related indicators are crucial in boxing, and accurately quantifying punching velocity and acceleration is significant for evaluating athletes' performance. This study aims to assess the reliability and validity of a boxing training monitoring system based on inertial sensors ("XingXun" boxing training monitoring system) in measuring punch acceleration and velocity. The study recruited 9 male boxers from the Shanghai University of Sport boxing team (age: 24.8 ± 3.1 years), all of whom had participated in at least one national competition and had no sports injuries that would worsen due to participation of this experiment. Participants wore sensors on both hands and underwent maximum effort tests involving six single punches of jabs, hooks, and uppercuts, as well as a 3-minute test of combination punches. Throughout the punching process, the "golden standard" device, the Qualisys 3D motion capture system, was used to monitor punch acceleration and velocity. In terms of statistical methods, reliability was assessed using the Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC) and Coefficient of Variation (CV), while validity was determined by Pearson correlation analysis between measurements from the "XingXun" system and the Qualisys system. Paired t-tests, Mean Deviation (MD), and Mean Absolute Error (MAE) were used to analyze errors. Finally, Bland-Altman plots were used to visually represent the mean bias, heteroscedasticity, and limits of agreement between "XingXun" and Qualisys. The results showed that for reliability, the "XingXun" system demonstrated acceptable reliability and high consistency in quantifying both single and combination punches tests across all indicators (punch acceleration: ICC = 0.883-0.950, CV = 2.27%-6.11%; punch velocity: ICC = 0.883-0.917, CV = 2.7%- 7.67%). In terms of validity, the punch acceleration and velocity measurements from the "XingXun" system had a strong correlation with the Qualisys 3D motion capture system (punch acceleration: r = 0.836-0.911; punch velocity: r = 0.785-0.854), and the error showed a small effect size (P > 0.05 or ES < 0.2). Overall, the "XingXun" boxing training monitoring system is a reliable and accurate tool for quantifying punch acceleration and velocity.
Keywords: Boxers, Boxing, Punch Acceleration, Punch velocity, reliability and validity
Received: 16 Oct 2025; Accepted: 12 Feb 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 Qi, Jin, Wang, Li, Finlay and Chen. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Chao Chen
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