BODY-COMPOSITION MEASUREMENT IN ELITE HEAVYWEIGHT OARSWOMEN - A COMPARISON OF 5 METHODS

The study was designed to evaluate the range of body composition in el ite heavyweight oarswomen as well as the level of agreement between va rious methods used to measure this variable, Percent body fat was dete rmined at the start of the competitive season by densitometry, taken t o represent the reference standard, and measurement of total body pota ssium, skinfold thicknesses, bioelectrical impedance analysis and body mass index, The athletes were studied within a two week period with a n measurements in any individual taken during one morning, We demonstr ated a surprisingly large range of percent fat between these oarswomen , 13.6 to 29.3% by densitometry, which was a feature common to all met hods, Percent body fat by total body potassium was lower (p<0.05) whil e from body mass index higher (p<0.01) than the reference value from d ensitometry, Similar methodologies generated significantly different e stimates of % fat (SFT1 versus SFT2, p<0.01 and BIA(v) versus BIA(B), p<0.01) highlighting the potential problems that may arise with the us e of different regression equations to convert primary measurements in to % fat, The limits of agreement between various methods were wide an d reflect the large variability about the estimated mean bias, Practic ally this negates the correction of ''non reference'' values by adding or subtracting the mean difference or bias between the techniques in individuals, These methodological problems need to be considered when setting specific body composition targets for an athlete.