Association of somatotype and body composition to physical performance in 7-12 year-old-girls

The purpose of this study was to determine the association of somatotype and body composition to physical performance measures in 7-12 year-old girls. Somatotypes were measured by Heath-Carter's anthropometric method. Body composition was estimated as fat and lean body mass from ⁴⁰K measurement using a whole-body counter. Physical performance measures consisted of three tests of running: mile run, 600-yeard run and 50-yard dash, and two tests of jumping: standing broad jump and vertical jump. Moderate relationships were found between somatotype components, measures of body size, and measures of body composition with the physical performance variables of running and jumping. The first component (relative fatness and third components (relative linearity) were more closely related to physical performance than the second component (relative musculo-skeletal development in relation to height). Per cent fat and the first component when each are combined with age, height and weight accounted for a similar amount of the variation in running and jumping performance. LBM when combined with age, height and weight accounted for significantly more of the variation in running and jumping performance than the second component when combined with age, height and weight. The authors suggest that different combinations of anthropometric measures derived from multiple regression analysis might be found to replace the standardized deviation from height approach used by Heath and Carter in research relating the muscular component to physical performance in children.