Muscle Characteristics and Body Composition of NCAA Division I Football Players

Sep 5, 2014Journal of strength and conditioning research

Muscle features and body makeup of college Division I football players

AI simplified

Circadian Biology on OpenScience ↗PubMed ↗DOI ↗

Abstract

Sixty-nine NCAA Division I football players had a mean body mass of 106.3 kg and a mean body fat percentage of 17.8%.

Defensive linemen exhibited a greater muscle cross-sectional area (mCSA) compared to wide receivers, linebackers, defensive backs, punters/kickers, and running backs.
No significant differences in echo intensity (EI) were found between different player positions.
Offensive linemen and defensive linemen had higher body fat percentages, greater lean mass, and more fat mass than wide receivers, linebackers, defensive backs, punters/kickers, and running backs.
No differences in muscle or body composition were observed based on race, year, or starter status.
The lack of variation in EI among positions may suggest that competitive athletes maintain similar muscle quality despite differences in body composition.

AI simplified

The purpose of this study was to examine muscle characteristics of the vastus lateralis (VL) and body composition of National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I football players. Sixty-nine Division I football players (mean ± SD; age: 20.0 ± 1.1 years; height: 186.2 ± 7.0 cm; body mass: 106.3 ± 21.1 kg; %fat: 17.8 ± 4.6%) were stratified by player position, race, year, and starter status. A panoramic scan of the VL was performed using a GE Logiq-e B-mode ultrasound. Muscle cross-sectional area (mCSA) and echo intensity (EI) were determined using Image-J software from the VL scan. Body composition measures were determined using dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA). For mCSA, defensive linemen (DL: 46.7 ± 4.2 cm) had significantly greater CSA (p ≤ 0.05) than wide receivers (WR), linebackers (LB), defensive backs (DB), punters/kickers (PK), and running backs (RB). There were no significant differences for EI (p > 0.05) between positions. Offensive linemen and DL had significantly greater %fat than WR, LB, DB, PK, and RB (p ≤ 0.05); greater lean mass than all other positions (p ≤ 0.05); and more fat mass than quarterbacks, WR, LB, DB, PK, and RB (p ≤ 0.05). There were no muscle or body composition differences for race, year, or starter status. Because no differences between positions were observed for EI measures, it may indicate that competitive athletes have increased muscle quality regardless of body composition differences. Ultrasound and DXA measures may be useful to identify muscle characteristics and imbalances if a player gains or loses weight, suffers an injury, or declines in performance.

Full Text

Full text is available at the source.

View full text ↗

Muscle Characteristics and Body Composition of NCAA Division I Football Players

Abstract

Full Text

You found one interesting study. We’ll send the next 7.

what lands in your inbox each week:

Recent issues from the circadian biology brief

Abstract

Full Text

Related papers

You found one interesting study. We’ll send the next 7.

what lands in your inbox each week:

Recent issues from the circadian biology brief