Changes in Body Composition Prior to Competition in Bodybuilders and Figure Show Competitors

Abstract

Prior to competition the goal of bodybuilding and figure competitors is to reduce fat while minimizing the loss of lean tissue. It is recommended that competitive bodybuilding and figure competitors achieve extremely low levels of percent body fat for their competitions. PURPOSE: To examine the correlation of days prior to competition to weight, percent fat, fat mass, and fat free mass leading to bodybuilding and figure competitions. METHODS: 16 competitive bodybuilder males (75 data points) and 11 competitive figure show females (48 data points) (mean age men 25 ± 8.9, women 33 ± 3.8) were evaluated for weight, percent fat, fat mass, and fat free mass. Participants were analyzed twice each session by the same individual within the 12-weeks prior to competition using the Jackson and Pollock 7-site method. RESULTS: A significant negative correlation was found between days prior to competition and percent fat (men: R = 0.575, p = 0.001; women: R = 0.596, p = 0.001) days prior to competition and fat mass (men: R = 0.642, p = 0.001; women: R = 0.560, p = 0.001) in men and women respectively and in weight for men (R = 0.242, p = 0.012). There was no significance in fat free mass (R = 0.080, p = 0.417) for the men and no significance in weight (R = 0.297, p = 0.014) or fat free mass (R = 0.113, p = 0.357) for the women. Regression equations resulted in a predicted mean percent fat loss over 12 weeks of 5.5% for men and 3.9% for women; fat mass loss was 5.2 kg for men and 2.9 kg for the women; weight loss is predicted as 6.0 kg for men and 5.8 kg for women; fat free mass prediction loss was 1.8 kg for men and 2.6 kg for women. CONCLUSION: The finding of the present investigation demonstrated that there is a graded reduction in FM in the days leading to a competition in both men and women. Further, a regression analysis demonstrated that over the 12 weeks leading to a completion body weight, FM and FFM loses should be expected. Although speculative, these finding may be related to mild starvation/very low caloric intake in this population.