No abstract

Athletes from many sports that are categorized by body mass tend to reduce it to fit in lower categories. Such reduction can compromise the athlete's performance and health. In order to determine the most appropriate category, the body composition is highly relevant, especially to avoid excessive reduction. Thus, this study analyzed the morphological profile of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu elite athletes. The sample was composed of 11 athletes, aged 25.8 ± 3.3 years, medalists in national and/or international competitions. The analysis was performed to determine the anthropometric body composition and somatotype. Body fat percentage from this population was 10.3 ± 2.6 % fat, a high percentage of muscle mass (61.3 ± 1.5 %), and predominant mesomorphic component (5.5 ± 1.0) was observed. The points of highest and lowest fat accumulation were respectively abdominal (15.7 ± 6.3 mm) and chest (6.8 ± 1.5 mm) regions. It can be concluded that athletes from this sport showed higher body mass during the preparatory period than in competitive conditions (4.4 ± 2.4 %); however, they showed low body fat, high muscle mass percentage and predominant mesomorphic component.