Anthropometric, Body Composition, and Morphological Lower Limb Asymmetries in Elite Soccer Players: A Prospective Cohort Study

Lucia Mala, Tomas Maly, Lee Cabell, Mikulas Hank, David Bujnovsky and Frantisek Zahalka
Additional contact information
Lucia Mala: Sport Research Center, Faculty of Physical Education and Sport, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic
Tomas Maly: Sport Research Center, Faculty of Physical Education and Sport, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic
Lee Cabell: Department of Health and Human Performance, Texas State University, San Marcos, TX 78666, USA
Mikulas Hank: Sport Research Center, Faculty of Physical Education and Sport, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic
David Bujnovsky: Sport Research Center, Faculty of Physical Education and Sport, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic
Frantisek Zahalka: Sport Research Center, Faculty of Physical Education and Sport, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 4, 1-12

Abstract: The aim of this study was to identify and compare parameters related to anthropometry, body composition (BC), and morphological asymmetry in elite soccer players in nine age categories at the same soccer club ( n = 355). We used a bio-impedance analyzer to measure the following indicators of BC: body height (BH); body mass (BM); relative fat-free mass (FFMr); percentage of fat mass (FM); and bilateral muscle mass differences in the lower extremities (BLD?). Age showed a significant influence on all parameters observed (F 64,1962 = 9.99, p = 0.00, λ = 14.75, η 2 p = 0.25). Adolescent players (from U16 through adults) had lower FM values (<10%) compared to players in the U12–U15 categories (>10%). The highest FFMr was observed in the U18 category. Players in the U12 and U13 categories showed more homogenous values compared to older players. With increasing age, significantly higher FFMr was observed in the lower extremities. An inter-limb comparison of the lower extremities showed significant differences in the U17 category (t 27 = 2.77, p = 0.01) and in adult players (t 68 = 5.02, p = 0.00). Our results suggest that the end of height growth occurs around the age of 16 years, while weight continues to increase until 20 years. This increase is not linked to decreasing FM, nor to the FFMr, which remains stable. We found morphological asymmetries between limbs in players of the U17 category and in adult players.

Keywords: fat mass; fat-free mass; elite athletes; ontogenesis; talent; morphological asymmetry (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/4/1140/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/4/1140/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:4:p:1140-:d:319061

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().