Association between body composition, physical activity level and Illinois agility test performance in young males and females

Abstract

Background and Study Aim. Agility performance, which is a skill related to fast change of direction, explosiveness, and quickness, is a vital performance component for team sports. Illuminating factors that affect agility is substantial to understand the ability requirements and improve. This study aims to investigate correlations of the body analyze parameters and agility performance.
 Material and Methods. One hundred twenty three young participants (93 male, 30 female) were included in this research. Height, weight, fat (%), fat (kg), fat-free mass (FFM), muscle mass, total body water (TBW, kg, and %), bone mass, basal metabolic rate (BMR), metabolic age, visceral rating, and body mass index (BMI) measured for all participants. Illinois Agility Test (IAT) was used to analyze agility performance. A questionnaire including questions about the physical activity level of participants was applied to all participants after IAT.
 Results. Results showed that height was a dominant determinant of IAT performance. There were significant positive correlations between height (negative correlation in women), body weight, fat percentage, fat mass, and visceral rating level (p < 0.05). TBW (%) had a negative relation with IAT duration (p < 0.001). There was a statistically significant difference in terms of IAT between the participants who stated their physical activity levels as low, medium and high (p = 0.025*). Increased daily physical activity level and daily step count increased the agility performance (p < 0.05).
 Conclusions. Coaches and athletes should be considered especially body weight, fat (%), hydration status, and daily physical activity level to improve agility performance.