Abstract
Aims: To evaluate whether body mass (BM) and body composition may influence mountain bike cycling performance. Methods: Forty male amateur mountain bikers attended the laboratory on two non-consecutive days. At the first visit, anthropometric measures (height, BM, body fat [BF], fat-free mass [FFM] and body mass index [BMI]) and familiarization to incremental cycling test were performed. On the second visit, cyclists performed again the incremental cycling test to measure peak power output (PPO), peak power output relative to BM (PPO-BM), and time to exhaustion (TE), which were posteriorly correlated with BM and anthropometric measures. Results: A low and moderate significant correlation were observed between TE and BM (p<0.01; r=0.40) and FFM (p<0.01; r=0.56). Moderate significant correlation was found between PPO and BM (p<0.01; r=0.45), BMI (p=0.03; r=0.35) and strong with FFM (p<0.01; r=0.59). Also, PPO-BM significantly correlated with BM (p=0.04; r=-0.31), BMI (p=0.02; r=-0.35) and BF (p<0.01; r=-0.55). No other significant correlations were observed. Conclusion: Considering PPO-BM as mainly performance variable, BM and BF can be a determining factor in mountain biking performance but FFM did not.
Highlights
Mountain biking (MTB) is an off-road cycling modality including various types of terrain and repeated up- and downhills[1]
Regarding peak power output (PPO), moderate correlations were found with body mass (BM) (Figure 2A) and body mass index (BMI) (Figure 2D), but strong to fat-free mass (FFM) (Figure 2C) (p < 0.05)
When peak power output was normalized to BM (PPO-BM), there was a moderate significant correlation with BM (Figure 3A) and BMI (Figure 3B), and a strong significant correlation to body fat (BF) (Figure 3B) (p < 0.05)
Summary
Mountain biking (MTB) is an off-road cycling modality including various types of terrain and repeated up- and downhills[1]. Since it was included in the Olympic Games programme, it became a more traditional and widespread sport around the world, comprising a large number of recreational, amateur and elite cyclists[1]. In this sense, the determinants of MTB performance are drawing the attention of sports scientists[1,2,3]. In recreational male Ironman triathletes and ultra-cyclists, the percent BF was associated with total race time[8]
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