Summary
Two hundred and seven male members of South Australian representative squads in 18 sports (¯X±s = 24.2±4.7 years) were tested in order to provide descriptive data on relative body fat (% BF), develop a population specific equation and cross-validate existing equations.
Measurements were taken of 10 circumferences, 2 diameters and 8 skinfolds; body density (BD) was measured by underwater weighing with the residual volume (RV) being determined by He dilution. The overall mean BD was 1.0761 g · cm−3 (s=0.0085 g·cm−3; range = 1.0465–1.0968 g·cm−3) which corresponded to 10.0% BF according to Siri (s=3.7%; range=1.3–23.0%). The games players (n=129) registered an overall mean of 10.3% BF (s=3.7%; range=2.2–23.0%). There were significant differences (p<0.05) for % BF between the lacrosse players (¯X=12.3%) and both the Australian Rules footballers (¯X=8.0%) and track and field athletes (¯X=8.7%).
A stepwise multiple regression on 185 subjects yielded the following equation, which had anR of 0.787:
BD=1.078865 -0.000419 (∑ abdominal, medial calf, front thigh and juxta-nipple skin-folds in mm)+0.000948 (neck circumference in cm)-0.000266 (age in decimal years)-0.000564 (ankle circumference in cm).
Only those predictors which resulted in a significantly increased correlation (p⩽0.05) were included. The standard error of estimate of 0.00537 g · cm−3 was equivalent to 2.3% BF at the mean. This equation was satisfactorily cross-validated against the BD of a separate sample (n=22) from the same population. However, cross-validation of 11 previously published equations indicated that they have limited applicability to State representative sportsmen.
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This study was supported by a grant from the Menzies Foundation
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Withers, R.T., Craig, N.P., Bourdon, P.C. et al. Relative body fat and anthropometric prediction of body density of male athletes. Europ. J. Appl. Physiol. 56, 191–200 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00640643
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00640643