Multicompartment Body Composition Reference Data For Male University Club Sport Athletes (preliminary Data)

Body composition norms exist for National College Athletic Association (NCAA) athletes but not for club sport athletes. Additionally, the norms for NCAA athletes were created from individual methods requiring assumptions, such as dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) or densitometry. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to create 4-compartment (4C) model body composition reference norms for university club sport athletes. METHODS: Descriptive data were collected for 110 male university club sport athletes (21.2 ± 1.8 y) from 13 different sports. Body volume measured by the Bod Pod, and total body water and bone mineral content measured by bioimpedance spectroscopy and DXA, respectively, were used for the 4C model. Mean differences among teams were evaluated using one-way ANOVA with Tukey post-hoc. RESULTS: Athletes varied in competitive experience (1 to 19 y; 6.2 ± 4.8 y) and leanness (BMI = 16.9 to 36.4 kg·m-2, 24.9 ± 3.6 kg·m-2). Body fat percentage (%BF) ranged from 4.9 to 35.7% (14.2 ± 5.7 %BF), and fat-free mass index (FFMI) ranged from 15.5 to 30.0 kg·m-2 (21.3 ± 2.4 kg·m-2). For sports with ≥4 participants (10 sports): (I) %BF was significantly different among sports (p = .002). Soccer players had the lowest %BF (10.2 ± 3.9%), and swimmers had the highest %BF (19.0 ± 7.4%). (II) FFMI was significantly different among sports (p < .001). Cyclists (18.5 ± 2.1 kg·m-2) and climbers (19.9 ± 0.9 kg·m-2) had a lower FFMI than powerlifters (23.9 ± 3.1 kg·m-2) and rugby athletes (23.0 ± 2.3 kg·m-2). FFMI is highly correlated with body mass (r = .723, p < .001). (III) The total bone mineral density (tBMD) was significantly different between sports (p = .014). tBMD was lower in cyclists (1.151 ± 0.072 g·cm-2) compared to rugby players (1.352 ± 0.103 g·cm-2). tBMD is positively correlated with body mass (r = .363, p < .001) and FFMI (r = .424, p < .001). CONCLUSION: These data (with ongoing data collection) can be used as normative data or reference values for male club sport athletes. Differences in %BF, FFMI, and tBMD are apparent across sports.