Relative body fat and anthropometric prediction of body density of male athletes

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Two hundred and seven male members of South Australian representative squads in 18 sports (¯X±s = 24.2±4.7 years) were tested in order to provide descriptive data on relative body fat (% BF), develop a population specific equation and cross-validate existing equations. Measurements were taken of 10 circumferences, 2 diameters and 8 skinfolds; body density (BD) was measured by underwater weighing with the residual volume (RV) being determined by He dilution. The overall mean BD was 1.0761 g · cm−3 (s=0.0085 g·cm−3; range = 1.0465–1.0968 g·cm−3) which corresponded to 10.0% BF according to Siri (s=3.7%; range=1.3–23.0%). The games players (n=129) registered an overall mean of 10.3% BF (s=3.7%; range=2.2–23.0%). There were significant differences (p¯X=12.3%) and both the Australian Rules footballers (¯X=8.0%) and track and field athletes (¯X=8.7%). A stepwise multiple regression on 185 subjects yielded the following equation, which had anR of 0.787: BD=1.078865 -0.000419 (∑ abdominal, medial calf, front thigh and juxta-nipple skin-folds in mm)+0.000948 (neck circumference in cm)-0.000266 (age in decimal years)-0.000564 (ankle circumference in cm). Only those predictors which resulted in a significantly increased correlation (p⩽0.05) were included. The standard error of estimate of 0.00537 g · cm−3 was equivalent to 2.3% BF at the mean. This equation was satisfactorily cross-validated against the BD of a separate sample (n=22) from the same population. However, cross-validation of 11 previously published equations indicated that they have limited applicability to State representative sportsmen.