Lean mass and biological maturation as predictors of muscle power and strength performance in young athletes

Abstract

Background The biological maturation (BM) analyzed by peak height velocity (PHV) and bone age (BA), and lean body mass has been associated with the strength and muscle power of young athletes. However, the ability of BM (PHV and BA) and LM markers to predict muscle strength and power in young athletes remains uncertain. Objective The Aim was determine the predicting power of BM markers (PHV and BA) and LM in relation to muscle power of upper and lower limbs and muscle strength of upper limbs in adolescent athletes at puberty. Methods Ninety-two adolescent athletes (both sexes; age 12.4 ± 1.02 years) were assessed for body composition by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA). Power of upper limbs (ULP), force handgrip (HG), vertical jump (VJ) and countermovement jump (CMJ) were recorded. BM was predicted by mathematical models to estimate PHV and BA. Multilayer artificial neural network analyses (MLP’s) were used to determine the power of prediction of LM, PHV and BA on muscle power and strength of upper- and lower-limbs of the athletes. Results LM, BA and PHV were associated with HG (r>0.74, p<0.05) and ULS (r>0.60, p<0.05) in both sexes. In both sexes BA was associated with VJ (r>0.55, p<0.05) and CMJ (r>0.53, p<0.05). LM indicated associations (r>0.60, p<0.05) with BA and with PHV (r<0.83, p<0.05) in both sexes. MLP’s analysis revealed that the LM provides > 72% of probability to predict the muscle power of upper- and lower-limbs, and the strength of the upper limbs; whereas PHV provides > 43% and bone age >64% in both female and male adolescent athletes. Conclusion We identified that, like PHV and BA, LM is a strong predictor of low cost of both upper limbs muscle strength and upper and lower limbs power in adolescent athletes.