TY - JOUR
T1 - Body Fat Is a Predictor of Physical Fitness in Obese Adolescent Handball Athletes
AU - Hermassi, Souhail
AU - Bragazzi, Nicola Luigi
AU - Majed, Lina
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2020, MDPI AG. All rights reserved.
PY - 2020/11
Y1 - 2020/11
N2 - We examined the relationships between body fat (BF) and field measures of physical fitness in adolescent handball players. Twenty nine players (age: 16.6 +/- 1.72 years; body mass: 79.8 +/- 17.0 kg; height: 1.70 +/- 0.12 m; body fat: 27.7 +/- 8.67%) from Qatar handball first league performed a series of anthropometric and fitness tests related to their performance in sprinting (i.e., 15 m and 30 m sprint), jumping (i.e., countermovement and squat jumps), throwing (i.e., 3 kg medicine ball seated front throw) and running (i.e., agility T-Half and Yo-Yo intermittent recovery level 1 tests). Significant differences between obese and non-obese groups, classified based on age-stratified %BF norms, were found, with the largest difference being attributed to aerobic performance on the Yo-Yo test. Results indicated no significant relationships between anthropometric variables and sprinting or jumping abilities. %BF predicted a significant 8-15% portion in running performances of agility and aerobic capacity, while the latter were mainly explained by body height and mass. %BF was the only and strongest predictor of throwing performance, being an important determinant of performance in handball. Optimizing %BF should be considered as a training and nutrition goal in order to improve sport performance.
AB - We examined the relationships between body fat (BF) and field measures of physical fitness in adolescent handball players. Twenty nine players (age: 16.6 +/- 1.72 years; body mass: 79.8 +/- 17.0 kg; height: 1.70 +/- 0.12 m; body fat: 27.7 +/- 8.67%) from Qatar handball first league performed a series of anthropometric and fitness tests related to their performance in sprinting (i.e., 15 m and 30 m sprint), jumping (i.e., countermovement and squat jumps), throwing (i.e., 3 kg medicine ball seated front throw) and running (i.e., agility T-Half and Yo-Yo intermittent recovery level 1 tests). Significant differences between obese and non-obese groups, classified based on age-stratified %BF norms, were found, with the largest difference being attributed to aerobic performance on the Yo-Yo test. Results indicated no significant relationships between anthropometric variables and sprinting or jumping abilities. %BF predicted a significant 8-15% portion in running performances of agility and aerobic capacity, while the latter were mainly explained by body height and mass. %BF was the only and strongest predictor of throwing performance, being an important determinant of performance in handball. Optimizing %BF should be considered as a training and nutrition goal in order to improve sport performance.
KW - Anthropometrics
KW - Body fat
KW - Body mass index
KW - Handball
KW - Obesity
KW - Physical performance
UR - https://www.webofscience.com/api/gateway?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=hbku_researchportal&SrcAuth=WosAPI&KeyUT=WOS:000594121000001&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=WOS_CPL
U2 - 10.3390/ijerph17228428
DO - 10.3390/ijerph17228428
M3 - Article
C2 - 33202549
SN - 1661-7827
VL - 17
SP - 1
EP - 11
JO - International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
JF - International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
IS - 22
M1 - 8428
ER -