Body Fat Measurements in Elite Adolescent Volleyball Players: Correlation between Skinfold Thickness, Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis, Air-displacement Plethysmography, and Body Mass Index Percentiles

Background: Determination of body composition is an essential parameter in training athletes because low fat-muscle ratio might improve physical performance in many types of sports. Since training is often conducted in the field, it is important to determine whether simple field measurements of body composition assessment correlate with laboratory measurements. Objective: Examine the correlation of body fat content as measured using skinfold thicknesses (SF), air-displacement plethysmography (BOD POD), bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) and body mass index (BMI) age and gender adjusted percentiles. Method: Body mass as measured by SF, BOD POD, BIA, and BMI percentiles were examined in 29 elite, national team level, male and female volleyball players (age range 13 to 18) at the beginning of the training season. Results: Body fat percent measured by SF, BIA and BOD POD were highly positively correlated (r > 0.83). Measurements of body fat by SF, BIA and BOD POD were weakly correlated with BMI percentiles (r < 0.45). Conclusions: Results suggest that BMI percentile is not a good measure for body fat in adolescent elite male and female volleyball players. SF and measurements of body composition by BIA and BOD POD are essentially interchangeable.