Bc. Nindl et al., LOWER AND UPPER-BODY ANAEROBIC PERFORMANCE IN MALE AND FEMALE ADOLESCENT ATHLETES, Medicine and science in sports and exercise, 27(2), 1995, pp. 235-241
Little data exist for upper and lower body mechanical power capability
of adolescent athletes. This study compared arm (A) and leg (L) anaer
obic peak and mean power (PP and MP) of 20 male and 20 female adolesce
nt athletes after normalization for body mass (BM), fat-free mass (FFM
), and lean A and L cross-sectional area (CSA). Power outputs were ass
essed by the Wingate anaerobic test. FFM and CSA were estimated via an
thropometry. No significant (P > 0.05) differences existed between the
sexes in Tanner sexual maturity, chronological age, or overall traini
ng activity. Males had higher (P < 0.001) absolute PP (W) (L 694 vs 44
2; A 494 vs 309) and MP (L 548 vs 307; A 337 vs 214). Ratio normalizat
ion and ANCOVA were used to remove the influence of body size differen
ces. Ratio normalization showed that males had greater leg PP/BM, MP/B
M, MP/FFM, MP/CSA, as well as arm PP/BM and MP/BM, whereas all leg and
arm PP and MP ANCOVA adjusted means for BM, FFM, and CSA, except arm
MP adjusted for FFM, were significantly (P < 0.01) higher for males th
an females. We conclude that factors other than muscle mass, possibly
qualitative in nature, are responsible for the sex difference in anaer
obic performance of adolescent athletes.