1. Assessment of Lean Body Tissue Composition in Young Elite Male Players of Different Sports
Presented by:
Abhishek Bandyopadhyay
Research Fellow
Human Performance Laboratory
Sports Authority of India, Kolkata

2. Introduction
Body tissue composition not only determines athletes’ motor fitness and level of sport but also plays a key role in training.
Body cell mass (BCM) is metabolically active compartment of fat free mass (FFM) which reflects body’s cellular components involved in oxygen consumption, carbon dioxide production and resting metabolism (Ellis, 2000).
On the other hand, extra cellular mass (ECM) includes non-metabolically active connective tissues such as, collagen, elastin, skin, tendons and bones along with interstitial water.
In our study, football, hockey, table tennis & badminton are of four different ball and racket sports comprising of own distinctive skills, tactics and movement patterns.
Moreover, literature addressing body tissue characteristics of Indian young athletes found to be scanty.

3. Aims & Objectives
i) to assess and evaluate the features of lean body tissue composition and
ii) to find the impact of sports specific physical activity
-in a group of elite young athletes of different sports.

4. Materials & Methods
Subjects: male athletes (mean age; 16.7 ±2.31 yrs):
Football (n=95), Hockey (n=110), Table Tennis (n=74) and Badminton (n=63)
---from different schemes of Sports Authority of India (SAI), eastern region.
72 male sedentary boys (mean age; 16.4 ±1.42 yrs) also served as control group.
Training history: The players were at least of state level performer with minimum of 3-4 yrs of formal training history.
Training Regimen:
Except the skill training, almost common training regimen used to apply for the sports : avg.4-5 hrs/day and ~ 30 hrs/week.
Both morning and evening session was comprised of physical training for 1 hr and skill training for ~ 2 hrs.
The physical training schedule includes different strength and endurance training program along with flexibility exercises according to their sports specific requirement.
Warm up & cool down session after & before starting the main practice were also included.
Players were provided psychological or mental training session.
Ethical Consideration: The study was conducted following guidelines of ‘Declaration of Helsinki’ and was approved by the Ethical Committee of Sports Authority of India, Kolkata.

5. Continued.. Measurement procedure:
Physical characteristics including height (to the nearest 0.1 cm) and weight (to the nearest 0.1 kg) were measured by digital stadiometer (Seca 242, Itin Scale Co., Inc., USA) and body composition analyzer (Tanita BF-350, Tanita Corporation of America Inc., USA) respectively.
Multi Frequency Bio-electrical Impedance Analysis (MF-BIA):
Body composition including, BF%, FFM, BCM and ECM was determined by whole body bio-electrical impedance measurements using a multi-frequency analyzer (Maltron Bioscan 920-2, Maltron International, Rayleigh, Essex, UK).
Resistance (R) and Reactance (Xc) were measured to an alternate current (0.8 mA) with four different frequencies (5, 50, 100 and 200 KHz) using ME4000 self-adhesive electrodes.
The measurements were taken within the first several minutes after subjects assumed the supine position, as previously described by Heyward & Stolarczyk (1996).
FFM and BCM were calculated by using the formula from manufacturer’s software. Relative BCM, BCM index (BCMI) and the ECM /BCM ratio were also calculated thereafter.
Statistical Analysis: Data was analyzed using the software, Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS, version 21.0).
Fig. Maltron Bioscan 920-2

6. Fig. Whole body bio-electrical impedance measurement on an young soccer player.

7. Results

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10. Discussion
Changes in the metabolic activity of BCM and its diversified development have been used as information of athlete's adaptation to different types of physical activity and their training level (Andreoli et al., 2003).
In endurance sports, aerobic demand of energy release is highly related with greater BCM content.
In our study, hockey players have shown minimum BF% with more lean mass and BCM% as compared to football and badminton players whereas table tennis players like the sedentary boys have a higher BF% along with lower BCM%.
Although, muscle mass alterations was not clearer either by ECM/BCM ratio or BCM/FFM. However, body cell mass index (BCMI) of table tennis players was significantly lower compared to the badminton players representing a poor muscular efficiency. A slightly higher BCMI variability (i.e., kg/m2) within a shortest BMI range (i.e., kg/m2) for hockey players represents higher muscular development compared to rest of the groups (Fig. 1B)
BCMI also has been shown to be sensitive to the changes in protein status and lean tissue rather than BMI alone (Talluri, 1998).

11. Conclusions
BCM% as per body weight and BCMI are potential indicator of athletic performance and sports specific training.
BCM% as per FFM and the ECM /BCM ratio are also sensitive to indicate chemical maturity of FFM and changes in protein tissues.
The findings of present study may be useful to the players to formulate the systematic training programme and to enhance the sports performance.

12. Thank You