Abstract
The purpose of this study was to evaluate changes in the estimated body composition of elite female and male Polish handball players during a five-week preseason training camp. Height and weight were measured, while body composition was estimated with bioelectrical impedance in 18 male and 17 female handball players before and after the five-week training protocol. Components of body composition included total body water (TBW), fat-free mass (FFM), muscle mass (MM), and absolute and relative fat mass (FM). Weight and body mass index (BMI) did not change in males, but declined in females after five weeks of training. FM and %FM declined, while estimated TBW, FFM, and MM increased significantly after training in both males and females. In contrast, comparisons of log transformed ratios for changes in weight, the BMI and body composition in males and females, respectively, suggested that estimated TBW, FFM, and MM increased relatively more in females than in males, while FM and %FM decline relatively more in males than females. Overall, the five-week preseason training program modified the body composition of male and female handball players. FM and %FM decreased, while estimated TBW, FFM, and MM increased, in both males and females after the preseason training program. Comparisons of log transformed ratios for changes in body composition in males and females suggested sexual dimorphism in response to intensive preseason training.
Highlights
Body composition is often viewed as central to success in sport at many levels [1]
In the context of the preceding, the purpose of this study is to evaluate changes in the estimated body composition of elite female and male Polish handball players during a five-week preseason training camp
Body mass and the body mass index (BMI) did not change among males, while body mass increased slightly but significantly and the BMI did not change among females after the five-week training program
Summary
Body composition is often viewed as central to success in sport at many levels [1]. the two-compartment model of body composition—body weight = fat-free mass (FFM) + fat mass (FM)—was used in many early studies of body composition among athletes, often with a specific focus on estimates of relative FM (FM%), body composition can be approached at several levels [1], and advances in technology per se and methods have facilitated assessment so that FFM per se and lean tissue mass (LTM) and bone mineral content (BMC) or bone mineral density (BMD) components can be readily estimated, in addition to FM [2,3]. Public Health 2020, 17, 3880; doi:10.3390/ijerph17113880 www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph
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