Title: A COMPARISON OF BODY COMPOSITION METHODS TO DETERMINE MINIMUM WRESTLING WEIGHT OF COLLEGIATE WRESTLERS
Abstract:The NCAA (1998) banned wrestlers from the practice of rapid dehydration and established a minimum wrestling weight (MW) calculated as weight at 5% body fat (BF). The NCAA permitted MW to be establishe...The NCAA (1998) banned wrestlers from the practice of rapid dehydration and established a minimum wrestling weight (MW) calculated as weight at 5% body fat (BF). The NCAA permitted MW to be established either by hydrostatic weighing (HW) or skinfold (SF) techniques. To our knowledge, no studies have used air displacement plethysmography (ADP) measures of % body fat in determining MW for wrestlers. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to compare the accuracy of HW, SF, and ADP in measuring percent BF in collegiate wrestlers. Subjects were 23 NCAA Division I wrestlers (19.3 ± 1.3yr; 173.2 ± 6.6cm; 76.8 ± 16.7kg). All subjects had their percent BF measured using HW, SF, and ADP in order to calculate their individual MW. Mean percent BF measures were not significantly different (p < .05) between HW (9.7 ± 4.3%), SF (12.2 ± 4.9%), and ADP (9.9 ± 4.7%). In addition, SF (r = .828), and ADP (r = .857) were significantly correlated with the criterion measure (HW). However, the standard error of the estimate for SF (2.8%) and ADP (2.4%) showed the potential for deviation among individual measures. This was confirmed by a Bland-Altman analysis, which showed non-systematic differences between measures (compared to HW) that varied from +1.1 to û8.8% BF for SF, and +2.8 to û8.0% BF for ADP. These differences could significantly impact the wrestler's MW, and potentially alter their designated weight class into either a higher class (where the wrestler would be less competitive) or lower class designation (which may not be a healthy weight). In conclusion, it appears that ADP is at least as accurate as SF in determining body composition in wrestlers. However, non-systematic variance in percent BF estimates using all two-component measures should cause us to use these estimates with caution in wrestlers.Read More