Differences in anthropometric variables and muscle strength in relation to competitive level in male handball players

Abstract

Somatic characteristics manifested in different body morphology have great importance for the selection of athletes in most sports. The aim of our study is to evaluate the differences in anthropometric variables and isometric strength of handball players presenting different levels of sports competence, and to study the discriminative power of selected morphological characteristics that do not change in the training process. The study included the results of anthropometric measurements routinely used to monitor athletes, and body proportion indices were calculated. Fat percentage was assessed using the BIA, whereas body build was assessed using the Heath-Carter method. Measurements of right and left hand grip strength and back strength were taken. The results of measurements and calculations were analyzed using statistical methods. It was shown that players presenting the highest level dominate by the overall size and massiveness of the body, characteristics ensuring an advantage in direct confrontation. The size of subcutaneous fat tissue and percentage of body fat varied poorly between athletes in each group. Muscle strength assessed under static conditions shows a gradient in magnitude across teams from higher to lower rank, but the differences are not statistically significant. The same somatotype (balanced mesomorph) was present in all groups. Athletes presenting high sports level are characterized by body proportions that determine biomechanical conditions conducive to optimizing the structure of movements important in handball. Stepwise discriminant analysis showed that throwing-related characteristics (hand length, upper arm length, upper limb span, lower limb length) account for 88% of the variance in team ranking and can be used to identify the morphological predisposition of adepts to play handball.

The Role of the Specific Strength Test in Handball Performance: Exploring Differences across Competitive Levels and Age Groups

“…After the analysis of the results it is clear that a battery combining the SPT and the FDST, is useful to facilitate the discrimination of elite players from sub-elite players, which gives a basis for identifying talent [18,19,28,37]. It was known that anthropometry is a factor that plays in favor of performance in handball players in important gestures such as throwing and displacement and that it is also a differentiating factor between levels of play [19,26,27]. However, to date, it was unknown what happened in force production capacity and its application to gestures close to those of competition in players of similar anthropometric characteristics and age.…”

“…Previous work has shown that there are differences between elite and amateur handball players in terms of strength manifestations, such as maximal dynamic strength and muscle power development, as well as anthropometric characteristics [2,23]. Several studies have observed how anthropometric differences are determinants in the performance of handball players [15,21,[24][25][26], favoring the application of explosive strength to determinant gestures in the game such as throwing [27]; in fact, it seems clear that greater anthropometry is clearly related to an increase in game performance and that it is a differential factor in any category [18,25,28].…”

“…Studies on male handball players have shown that both physiological and physical characteristics differentiate players according to category, sex and level [26,28,[30][31][32][33]. The problem is that in all these investigations, the factors of age, sex and anthropometry are not kept fixed in order to analyze exclusively the physical factors.…”

Analysis of the Contact Area for Three Types of Upper Limb Strikes

“…All simulations of strikes were performed on 2D optical contact area scanner Podocam (ING Corporation, s.r.o., Frýdlant nad Ostravicí, Czech Republic, Figure 1 , [ 42 , 43 , 44 ]), reported in the previous study [ 54 ] where a static record of a selected segment of the human body was made. The device consists of an all-metal aluminum frame with fixation to the board, total size of 38 cm × 37 cm; and a camera holder, 1 Full HD web camera Logitech HD Pro Webcam C920, Romanel-sur-Morges, Switzerland; special transparent plates; mirror; LED light sources 230 V, 50 Hz, 8 W; and original software.…”

“…The COP displacement on the surface of the fist during the punch and striker grip strength was reported in connection with a hand injury in boxers [ 38 ] and competitors of martial arts [ 39 ]. Furthermore, hand morphology relates to performance in various areas of sport [ 40 , 41 ] and determines the handgrip strength [ 42 , 43 , 44 ]. Therefore, the report on the hand contact area has a high potential to inform on the impact characteristics of the strike [ 32 ], where these effects have not yet been investigated.…”