Effects of Body Composition on Race Time in Triathletes

The present paper aims to examine the effect of body composition of triathletes on race time. Forty-three athletes who took part in 9th World Inter-university Triathlon Championship participated voluntarily in measurements for the paper. The findings showed that Body Fat Percentage (BFP), Body Fat Mass (BFM), Fat Free Mass (FFM), Total Body Water (TBW) affected race time at p<0.01 level., While Body Mass Index (BMI) influenced the race time at p<0.05 level. Considering correlation results of the race time, positive moderately significant relation was found between race time and BFM and BFP, while negative moderately significant relation was observed between race time and FFM and TBW, and weak negative significant relation was seen between race time and BMI. Consequently, cycling time, rather than running time seems to be crucial in success in a University Olympic Triathlon. Swimming time seems to be of low importance. Address for correspondence: Dr. Ulviye Bilgin School of Physical Education and Sports Physical Education and Sport Teacher Department Gazi University 06100 Ankara, Turkey Telephone: +90 312 202 35 00 Fax: +90 312 212 22 74 E-mail: [email protected] INTRODUCTION The notion of body composition is generally used to refer to Body Fat Percentage (BFP) a Body Fat Mass (BFM) and Fat Free Mass (FFM) (Martin and Ward 1996; Hills et al. 2001). Densities of fat and fat free tissue differs. Neurons, skeletal muscles, heart and veins and bones compose the fat free body mass. Regardless of the sport discipline, it is important that athletes have favorable anthropometric and physiological characteristics to improve performance. With respect to anthropometric characteristics, Knechtle et al. (2011) showed that low BFP and higher lean body mass are associated with higher performance in cycling and triathlon competitions. In one study Rüst et al. (2012) found that there were differences in muscle mass between cyclists and triathletes. In another study Moro et al. (2013) determined that the anthropometric characteristics of triathletes are more similar to those of cyclists. Triathlon is closely related with somatotype, physiological capacity, technical proficiency and strategy (Ofoghi et al. 2016). Ideally, association of three triathlon disciplines is decisive in success (Millet and Vleck 2000). Various factors that affect performance in endurance sports have been studied in previous researches. “Apart from physiological parameters, a variety of anthropometric parameters like body mass, (Bale et al. 1986; Sharwood et al. 2002), BMI, (Hagan 1987), body fat, (Hagan et al. 1987), length of the upper leg, (Tanaka and Matsuura 1982), length of limbs, (Landers et al. 2000), height, (Bale et al. 1986; Maldonado et al. 2002), thigh girth, (Tanaka and Matsuura 1982), total skinfolds (Bale et al. 1986) and skinfold thickness of the lower limb (Arrese and Ostariz 2006; Legaz and Eston 2005) show an influence on performance in endurance athletes”. The triathlon in which such disciplines as swimming, cycling and running that require general endurance are performed successively, external and internal factors like climate and water temperature, use of tools for sports and, body composition also influence performance. Anthropometric attributes and “exercise performance during short and middle-distance running, marathon, and triathlon have been reported” (Arrese and Ostariz 2006; Legaz and Eston 2005; Sharwood et al. 2002). Baur et al. (2015) stated that triathlon results in dramatic alterations in body composition. They were determined that after triathlon race triathletes’ fat mass and body fat percentage are reduced, TBW percentage is increased, and FFM and absolute TBW are remained same. These changes that occurred in the body composition of triathletes can affect their performance closely. For this reason the present paper aims to reveal the effect of body composition, on race time of university triathletes.