Relationship between body composition and aerobic capacity and anaerobic power in male college athletes

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between body composition, aerobic ability, and anaerobic power in male college athletes. The subjects of this study were 113 male college athletes. Body composition was measured using bioimpedance analysis device. The aerobic capacity was measured the VO₂max(ml/kg/min) and VO₂ anaerobic threshold (AT, %) by the graded exercise test using a treadmill. Anaerobic power was measured using sargent jump. For data analysis, Pearson"s correlation analysis, simple and multiple linear regression analysis were performed to confirm the relationship and influence of body composition, aerobic ability, and anaerobic power. The significance level was set to α=.05. As a result of the correlation analysis, weight, body mass index(BMI), % body fat, body fat mass(kg), and lean body mass(kg) have a negative correlation with the VO₂max (r= -0.45~-0.65). The lean body mass(%) has a positive correlation with the VO₂max(r=0.53). There is a positive correlation(r=0.23, 0.25) between body weight and fat-free mass. Body weight, BMI, % body fat, body fat mass(kg), and lean body mass(kg) have a negative correlation with anaerobic power(r= -0.24~-0.58), and lean body mass has a positive correlation with anaerobic power(r=0.54). As a result of simple regression analysis, the increase of body weight, BMI, % body fat, body fat mass(kg), and lean mass(kg) was associated with a decrease in VO₂max. Increased of body weight and lean mass(kg) are associated with a decrease in VO₂AT. As a result of simple regression analysis, an increase of body weight, BMI, % body fat, body fat(kg), and lean body mass(kg) was associated with a decrease in VO₂AT. The increase of lean body mass(%) is associated with an increase in anaerobic power. As a result of multiple regression analysis, the explanatory power for the VO₂max of % body fat was 42.8%, and the explanatory power for the anaerobic power of body weight and lean mass was 34.8%. The explanatory power for the AT of lean mass(kg) was relatively low at 5%. The body composition of college athletes is related to aerobic ability and anaerobic power. College athletes are encouraged to manage their body composition to improve their performance, and rather than increase the muscle mass of the whole body, they should selectively develop muscles that are directly related to performance improvement and damage prevention in terms of functionality.