Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine if relationship trends between the mean of 3 predicted % body fat (%BF) equations and the sum of 8 skinfold (SKF) measures existed for well-trained athletes as opposed to BMI as an assessment of body composition.Two test periods were conducted 4 months apart collecting 8 SKF measures from 35 full-time athletes (21 male 26.05 ± 5.07 and 14 female 24 ± 4.15), 17 athletes were tested at both periods. Predicted %BF calculation used was the mean score (MS) of three equation predictors – Durnin and Womersley (DW) 4 Site Skinfold Test (Standard Error of Estimate (SEE) 3.5% for female: 4.0% for male), Jackson and Pollock (JP) 3 site SKF Test (SEE 3.9% for female: 3.4% for male), and Yuhasz SKF Test (Total Error (TE) 3.5% for male). Easton et al (1995) indicated JP & DW over and underestimated %BF, which suggests the mean may reduce the error of calculation. This analysis did support Easton et al observations with mean results for male 8.71±5.11 (16.01%<MS) JP, 12.80±5.56DW (23.36%>MS), 9.61±3.16 Yuhasz and MS of 10.37±4.55; female 17.41±6.22 (4.08%<MS) JP, 23.86±6.67 (31.42%>MS) DW, 13.19±7.50 Yuhasz and MS 18.15±6.72. The correlation co-efficient relationships for all equations were significant from r = 0.965 tor = 0.983 for males and r = 0.961 tor = 0.992 for female. The MS data indicated range trends to link the sum of 8 SKF measures to a prediction range of %BF. However the data sample is small in determining definitive conclusions, this warrants further data collection to validate the range trend findings. The data from the 17 subjects highlighted BMI has deficiencies in determining a true reflection of a well-trained athlete’s body composition.

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