title: Hierarchical differences in body composition of professional Sumo wrestlers.
abstract: The body composition of 36 professional Sumo wrestlers and 39 collegiate male students were assessed densitometrically. The means of body weight, BMI and %fat for Sumo wrestlers were 117.1 kg, 36.5 and 26.2%, extraordinarily large compared with untrained men (p < 0.001). Results of the analysis of variance of divisions of Sumo wrestlers revealed significant differences in body weight, fat-free mass, fat mass, BMI, fat-free mass index (FFM/height2) and fat mass index (FM/height2). For the visual expression of the hierarchical differences of body composition, fat mass index and fat-free mass index of the wrestlers in various leagues were plotted on a body composition chart. Wrestlers in the Sekitori division had significantly larger fat-free mass index scores in comparison with wrestlers from the lower divisions who share a common area of the chart. The cut-off point of fat-free mass index which divided Sekitori wrestlers from other wrestlers is approximately 30 and this value may be one of the anthropometrical indications of whether or not a Sumo wrestler is destined to be successful.
authors: Department of Health and Physical Education, Ibaraki University, Mito, Japan. hattori@mito.ipc.ibaraki.ac.jp
authors: K
authors: K
authors: Hattori
authors: M
authors: M
authors: Kondo
authors: T
authors: T
authors: Abe
authors: S
authors: S
authors: Tanaka
authors: T
authors: T
authors: Fukunaga
mesh_terms: D000273:Adipose Tissue / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001823:Body Composition / Q000502:physiology*; D001827:Body Height; D015992:Body Mass Index; D001835:Body Weight; D003720:Densitometry; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D008297:Male; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D014952:Wrestling / Q000145:classification / Q000502:physiology*