Body Composition Assessment in Masters Level Swimmers

Body composition of collegiate swimmers has been extensively studied; however, there are limited reports of body composition among Masters swimmers. This study compared the accuracy of air displacement plethysmography (ADP) and bioelectrical impedance (BIA) to the gold standard method of underwater weighing (UWW) in Masters level swimmers. The relationship between percent body fat (%BF) and body mass index (BMI) was also assessed. Recruitment (n = 6 females, 11 males) occurred at two Masters swim clubs. Pearson correlation coefficients revealed no significant differences between ADP, BIA, and UWW (p > 0.05). For both female and male Masters swimmers, the mean %BF was in the healthy range (30.4 ± 11.7% female, 21.3 ± 8.0% male); however, BMI was in the overweight range (27.0 ± 7.2 kg/m2 female, 26.4 ± 4.8 kg/m2 male). These findings suggest that while ADP, BIA, and UWW were comparable methods for assessing %BF in Masters swimmers, BMI did not adequately represent body composition and health risk for Masters swimmers.