Body composition and segmental bioimpedance phase angle in elite volleyball players

Because of the great interest in the evaluation of body composition (BC) in athletes, this study aimed to estimate BC variables like fat-free mass (FFM) and fat mass (FM) of volleyball players compared to a group of healthy subjects. 12 female volleyball players (VP, age 23.8 ± 3.6 years; weight 63.0 ± 5.1 kg; stature 170 ± 4 cm; BMI 21.9 ± 1.3 kg/m2) and 22 healthy females as control group (CG, age 23.6 ± 2.0 years; weight 60.7 ± 4.8 kg; stature 167 ± 5 cm; BMI 21.9 ± 1.3 kg/m2), participated to the study. BC was evaluated by skinfold thickness and whole-body and segmental bioimpedance analysis (BIA) measurements were assessed. BC resulted significantly different in VP than CG (FM (kg) = 15.7 ± 2.7 vs. 18.0 ± 3.0, p=0.036; FM (%) = 24.8 ± 3.0 vs. 29.5 ± 3.8, p=0.001; FFM (kg) = 47.4 ± 3.5 vs. 42.8 ± 3.6, p=0.001). These data confirm previous observations on FM % in VP. Moreover, assessing segmental BIA-derived phase se angle (PhA) appears to be sensible in these evaluations.