Bioimpedance Patterns and Bioelectrical Impedance Vector Analysis (BIVA) of Body Builders

Abstract

Bodybuilders are athletes characterized by high muscle mass. During competitions, the evaluation is performed based on aesthetic parameters. The study aims to provide normative references of body composition with the vector bioimpedance methodology (BIVA). A second aim is to compare BIVA assessments performed on both sides and the upper and lower body. A group of 68 elite bodybuilders (41 males aged 30.1 ± 9.2 years and 27 females aged 32.1 ± 8.0 years) was enrolled. A BIVA assessment was performed the day before the 2021 World Natural Bodybuilding Federation Italian Championships. As a result, male and female bodybuilders ranked to the left in the BIVA ellipse relative to the general population. Furthermore, unlike females, males also ranked lower than the general athletic population. In addition, in the symmetry assessment, males show a significantly greater upper body than the lower, right, and left parts, while in women, this is observed for the lower part of the body. The differences in the results obtained between males and females can be attributed to the different patterns of endocrine production between the sexes and the different criteria used by the juries to attribute the final score during the competitions. Therefore, BIVA references in bodybuilders could help adjust the training and nutritional program during the peak week before a competition.

Somatotype and bioelectrical impedance vector analysis of Italian CrossFit® practitioners

“…5 ) for the first time, is helpful for comparing with athletes from this or other sports. Furthermore, these results can be used to evaluate changes produced by training or nutritional strategies and adjust them to reach their optimal level [ 23 ].…”

“…In addition, showed an inverse correlation with the ratio of extracellular to intracellular water (ECW/ICW), independently of the BIVA approach [ 14 ]. BIVA has been studied in many sports [ 15 ], plotting the athletes within a tolerance ellipse of a given reference population, performing intra- or inter-group comparisons, monitoring athletes through a competitive season [ 16 , 17 ], or creating new tolerance ellipses for specific sports population, as it has been made in soccer players and referees [ 18 , 19 ], cyclists [ 20 ], synchronized swimmers [ 21 ], handball players [ 22 ] or natural bodybuilders [ 23 ]. To our knowledge, this is the first study analyzing the complete bioelectrical profile in CrossFit®.…”

Morphological Characteristics of Elite International Soccer Referees: Somatotype and Bioelectrical Impedance Vector Analysis

“…It is important to underline that body composition assessment can vary considerably in the methods but also according to instruments and the techniques adopted. Bioelectrical impendence analysis can be performed using single and multi-frequency modes, as well as hand-to-hand, foot-to-foot, foot-to-hand, and segmental techniques [ 24 , 54 ]. This makes it difficult to compare measurements taken with different instruments and, therefore, they are not generalizable for Bioelectrical impendence analysis technologies.…”

“… ( a ) Scattergram of the international elite soccer referees, according to the somatotype category, within the BIVA point graph with the 50%, 75% and 95% tolerance ellipses of the general population; ( b ) the average position of the different somatotypes; ( c ) comparison with the general [ 24 ] and athletic references [ 17 ]; ( d ) 50%, 75% and 95% tolerance ellipses derived from the current sample; ( e ) comparison among the different identified somatotypes that characterized elite referees. …”

“…Interest in bioelectrical impedance vector analysis (BIVA) has recently grown in the scientific literature [ 16 ], and references have been developed for both the general [ 17 , 18 ] and diverse populations of athletes [ 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 ]. However, there is a lack of BIVA studies on soccer referees.…”