ArticleBMC sports science, medicine & rehabilitation2024
Off- to in-season body composition adaptations in elite male and female endurance and power event athletics competitors: an observational study.
Article in BMC sports science, medicine & rehabilitation, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers.
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9 citing papers in PubMed, 7 citations in OpenAlex.
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- Case Report: Unilateral resistance and impact loading during knee rehabilitation after grade-2 MCL injury was associated with hip-specific aBMD accrual in an elite female road cyclist.Frontiers in sports and active living · 2026Article
- Sex-Specific Morphological and Neuromuscular Profiles of U-15 Colombian Basketball Players.Journal of functional morphology and kinesiology · 2025Article
- Impact of Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (REDs) on Bone Health in Elite Athletes: A Retrospective Analysis.Journal of cachexia, sarcopenia and muscle · 2025Article
- Incidence and Risk Factors of Metabolic Syndrome in Track and Field Throwing Athletes.International journal of exercise science · 2025Article
- Total-body versus knee-specific dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry scans for assessing bone mineral density surrounding the knee joint in collegiate athletes with and without an anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction.Journal of clinical densitometry : the official journal of the International Society for Clinical DensitometryArticle
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 4 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundMonitoring elite athletes' body composition (BC) is vital for health and optimizing performance in sports emphasizing leanness, such as athletics. This study aims to investigate and compare sex- and event-specific off-to in-season BC changes in endurance and power event athletics competitors.
methodsElite male and female endurance athletes (> 800 m runners; n = 21) and power event athletes (sprinters, jumpers; n = 32) underwent dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) scans for whole and regional lean mass (LM), fat mass (FM), bone mineral content (BMC), and density (BMD) during off-season (September-October) and in-season (April-May). Linear mixed models tested between-group off-season differences in BC, within-group off-season to in-season changes, and between-group differences in change. To assess meaningful or least significant changes (LSC) in BC, DXA precision errors were determined from two consecutive total body scans in a subsample of athletes (n = 30).
resultsMale athletes (n = 26) gained significantly (p < 0.05) more body mass (BM; mean difference 1.5 [95% confidence interval (CI):0.5-2.4] kg), LM (843 [95% CI:-253:1459] g), and trunk LM (756 [-502:1156] g) than female athletes (n = 27). The proportion of changes in athlete's BC exceeding the LSC threshold for LM and trunk LM were 70% and 65% in males, and 48% and 26% in females. Significant (p < 0.05) within-group off-season to in-season increases in LM were found for male endurance and power athletes, and female power athletes. All groups significantly increased BMD (p < 0.05). Only male and female power athletes had significant in- to-off-season increases in BMC. 80% of all athletes who had a meaningful increase in BMC belonged to the power event group. No significant within- or between group change in FM was observed.
conclusionsThe present study found that male athletes gained more BM, LM and trunk LM than females. Within-group increases in regional and whole-body LM and BMC were predominantly found among power event competitors. Incorporating individual meaningful changes alongside traditional statistics provided additional insights into sex and event-group differences. Future research on elite athletic event groups should include DXA measurements closer to major outdoor-season competitions, coupled with site-specific measures (ultrasound, MRI) for better detection of subtle changes in LM and FM.
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