The relative peak power output of amateur mountain bikers is inversely correlated with body fat but not with fat-free mass

Abstract

To evaluate whether body mass (BM) and body composition may influence mountain bike cycling performance. Methods: Forty male amateur mountain bikers attended the laboratory on two non-consecutive days. At the first visit, anthropometric measures (height, BM, body fat [BF], fat-free mass [FFM] and body mass index [BMI]) and familiarization to incremental cycling test were performed. On the second visit, cyclists performed again the incremental cycling test to measure peak power output (PPO), peak power output relative to BM (PPO-BM), and time to exhaustion (TE), which were posteriorly correlated with BM and anthropometric measures. Results: A moderate and strong significant correlation were observed between TE and BM (p<0.01; r=0.40) and FFM (p<0.01; r=0.56), respectively. Moderate significant correlation was found between PPO and BM (p<0.01; r=0.45), BMI (p=0.03; r=0.35) and strong with FFM (p<0.01; r=0.59). Also, PPO-BM significantly correlated with BM (p=0.04; r=-0.31), BMI (p=0.02; r=-0.35) and BF (p<0.01; r=-0.55). No other significant correlations were observed. Conclusion: Considering PPO-BM as mainly performance variable, BM and BF can be a determining factor in mountain biking performance but FFM did not.

The Influence of Endurance Training on the Lipid Profile, Body Mass Composition and Cardiovascular Efficiency in Middle-Aged Cross-Country Skiers

“…Similar results were noted by other authors in various disciplines [28,29]. Arriel et al [30] showed that body mass and body composition could be determinant for mountain biking performance, where body fat negatively influenced the performance of amateur mountain bikers, but the fat-free mass did not. In sprint runners, a lower body fat is correlated with better speed performance [31].…”

Current Perspectives of Cross-Country Mountain Biking: Physiological and Mechanical Aspects, Evolution of Bikes, Accidents and Injuries

“…However, when these performance measures are normalized to BM, the correlation coefficient is higher, suggesting that BM is an important factor for XC-MTB performance. In addition, there is a relationship between MOP normalized to BM and body fat (BF), but not with fat-free mass (FFM) and body mass index (BMI) [38]. Therefore, the anthropometric profile of the cyclists seems to be a relevant factor for achieving success in competitions.…”

“…Interestingly, in 1997 [47], male and female professional cyclists had a BM with 6.2 and 5.4 kg more than in 2021 [5], respectively. In general, studies have reported that male cyclists have an average BF of 8.1 ± 3.5% (range: 5.1 to 15.6%) [3,29,38,40,41,43,[47][48][49]51], while female cyclists have an average BF of 13.2 ± 2.0% [47]. When verified according to performance level, the average BF reported in male cyclists was 10.5 ± 4.5% in trained cyclists [29,38,40], 7.3 ± 2.3% in well-trained [41,43] and 7.0 ± 3.2% in professionals [3,[47][48][49]51].…”

“…In general, studies have reported that male cyclists have an average BF of 8.1 ± 3.5% (range: 5.1 to 15.6%) [3,29,38,40,41,43,[47][48][49]51], while female cyclists have an average BF of 13.2 ± 2.0% [47]. When verified according to performance level, the average BF reported in male cyclists was 10.5 ± 4.5% in trained cyclists [29,38,40], 7.3 ± 2.3% in well-trained [41,43] and 7.0 ± 3.2% in professionals [3,[47][48][49]51]. These observations are in line with those reported by Sánchez-muñoz, Muros and Zabala [52], who found that the cyclists with higher performance level had a lower BF.…”