| Summary: | Research regarding the body composition of elite male throwing athletes is very limited and it is therefore very important to extend the field of research regarding this topic. The aim of this study was firstly to determine anthropometrical differences between elite male javelin-throwers (n=20), discus-throwers (n=4), shot-putters (n=3) and hammer throwers (n=3), and secondly to determine which fieldmethod correlates the best with the Bod Pod (criterion method) when measuring percentage bodyfat of elite male throwing athletes. The variables that were tested was according to the prescriptions as described by ISAK (2001). The elite male throwing athletes had an average age of 24.43 years. The average stature for the whole group of throwers was 185.53cm, with shotputters being the tallest (190.9cm) and hammerthrowers the shortest (181.5cm). Javelin-throwers was the lightest (92.68kg) and discus-throwers the heaviest (117.17kg) in terms of bodymass, and both javelin- and discus-throwers showed a statistical meaningful difference (p<0.05) regarding bodymass. The average armspan of the group of throwers was 192.81cm, with the discus-throwers having the longest armspan (199.38cm) and hammer-throwers the shortest (184.4cm). The discus- and hammer-throwers had a statistical meaningful difference (p<0.05) regarding armspan. The largest average skinfold value was the abdominal skinfold (21.53mm), with the javelin-throwers having the smallest (17.59mm) and discus-throwers having the largest (32.15mm) abdominal skinfold. The abdominal skinfold showed a statistical meaningful difference (p<0.05) between the javelin- and discus-throwers.
The chest skinfold measured the smallest average value of 8.76mm, and showed no statistical meaningful difference (p>0.05) between the four groups of throwers. An average 6-skinfold equation value of 14.65% was measured for percentage bodyfat, with the discus-throwers having the largest (18.68%) value and javelin-throwers having the smallest (13.05%). According to the 7-skinfold equation, discus-throwers had, again, the largest percentage bodyfat (20.31%) and javelin-throwers the smallest value of 13.71%. Discus- and javelin-throwers showed a statistical meaningful difference (p<0.05) in terms of the 7-skinfold equation. The percentage bodyfat, as determined by the Bod Pod, showed that the hammer-throwers consisted over the largest percentage bodyfat of 18.9%, and javelin-throwers the smallest (13.19%). Although hammer-throwers consists of the largest percentage bodyfat, the Bod Pod showed that discus-throwers consists of the largest fatmass (21.85kg), as well as the largest lean body mass (92.2kg). The Body-Mass-Index (BMI) method showed statistical meaningful differences (p<0.05) between all four groups of throwers, and is thus a poor determinant of body composition of elite male throwing athletes. According to the Bod Pod (criteria method), the percentage bodyfat of the whole group was 1.5%. The 6-skinfold equation showed an average value of 14.65% and the 7-skinfold equation an average of 15.52%, which shows a difference of 0.15% and 1.02% respectively.
However, the Bio-electrical Impedence Analysis (BIA) method showed a difference of 3.7%, and it differed statistical meaningful (p<0.05) from the javelin-throwers’s BIA value and the Bod Pod. The BIA method is also a very poor method for determining percentage bodyfat of elite male throwing athletes. === Thesis (M.A. (Human Movement Science))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007.
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