Upper arm circumference is associated with race performance in ultra-endurance runners

Abstract

Objective:To investigate the association of anthropometric parameters to race performance in ultra-endurance runners in a multistage ultra-endurance run.Design:Descriptive field study.Setting:The Deutschlandlauf 2006 race in Germany, where athletes had to run 1200 km within 17 consecutive days. There were no interventions.Subjects:In total, there were 19 male Caucasian ultra-endurancerunners (mean (SD) 46.2 (9.6) years, 71.8 (5.2) kg, 179 (6) cm, BMI 22.5 (1.9) kg/m2).Main outcome measurements:Determination of body mass, body height, length of lower limbs, skin-fold thicknesses, circumference of limbs, body mass index (BMI), percentage skeletal muscle mass (%SM), and percentage body fat (%BF) in 19 successful finishers in order to correlate anthropometric parameters with running performance.Results:A significant association of upper arm circumference with the total running time was found (p<0.05, r2 = 0.26). No significant association was found with the directly measured anthropometric properties body height, body mass, average skin-fold thickness and the circumference of thigh and calf (p>0.05). Furthermore, no significant association was observed between the running time and the calculated parameters BMI, %BF, and %SM (p>0.05).Conclusions:In an ultra-endurance run over 1200 km within 17 consecutive days, circumference of the upper arm was the only factor associated with performance in well-experienced ultra-endurance runners. Body mass, BMI, body height, length of limbs, skin-fold thicknesses, circumference of limbs and the calculated percentage body composition of skeletal muscle mass and body fat showed no association with running performance.

Anthropometric profile, body composition and somatotyping of national Iranian cross-country runners

“…In other studies, body mass seems to have a marked effect on endurance performance (17). The effects of body mass and BMI on performance have been investigated in several studies.…”

“…A further anthropometric characteristic related to endurance performance is the circumference of limbs of the upper arm, the thigh and the calf (15,17,29). …”

“…However, most studies have been with non-elite and heterogeneous groups of performers. There are many different factors influencing performance in endurance exercise (17). Apart from physiological parameters, several anthropometric parameters show an association with endurance performance such as body mass (2,26), body mass index (BMI), body fat (1,21), length of the upper leg (29), length of limbs (19), body height (2), circumference of thigh (29), total skin-fold thickness (2) and skin-fold thickness of the lower limb (1,21).…”

Comparação entre dois testes motores utilizados para análise da força/resistência muscular em mulheres jovens

“…Despite that the possible influence of body mass and other morphologic variables on physical performance has been the subject of previous investigations in both anaerobic 19,20 and aerobic 21,22 activities, as well as in the comparison between genders 23 , the results reached so far are still in-conclusive since the magnitude of the contribution of these variables seems to depend on the characteristics of the motor task required. In this study it was believed that the motor performance in each test could be largely explained by the morphological variables, which was not confirmed, mainly in relation to body mass, fat mass, and lean body mass in the FKPU test.…”

Ultramarathon Running: Medical Issues

“…Among these variables, the most important were age [16,21], anthropometric characteristics such as body fat [16,19], body mass index [22] and limb circumferences [23], training characteristics such as running speed [16,19,21] and training volume [16,19,21] and previous experience [24,25].…”