Leaner, muscular legs translate to increased foot speed, for example, while stronger, more muscular shoulders create the ability to throw farther. Because muscles are responsible for producing the force necessary for movements like running and jumping, a higher level of lean muscle mass in the body contributes to an athlete’s speed, agility, and power. Larger muscles are capable of generating greater amounts of force. Below, we’ve explained 5 ways body composition impacts the health and fitness of young athletes:Ī higher percentage of lean mass means more power. In the fitness, nutrition, and youth athletic world, body composition is often used to describe the amount and distribution of body fat (essential and stored fat) and the amount and composition of fat-free or lean mass (muscles, bones, organs-basically everything in your body that isn’t fat).Ĭompared to BMI alone, body composition has a much more profound influence on athletic performance. Broadly speaking, body composition is a measure of the total amount of fat, muscle, bone, and water in your body. In terms of assessing health, fitness, and disease risk, body composition is a far more accurate measure than BMI. That’s why a muscular, fast, and active athlete like Michael Onwenu could have a much higher BMI than a sedentary individual with a lot of excess belly fat. The issue with BMI is that by neutralizing the impact of height on body weight, it makes no distinction between body fat and lean muscle mass. How body composition influences the health & fitness of young athletesīody mass index-which represents the relationship between a person’s height and weight-has long been used as a tool in youth sports to determine whether athletes are too heavy for their height to perform at optimal levels. Onwenu’s experience highlights the importance of looking at overall body composition-and not scale weight or BMI-to gain a more accurate picture of the health, fitness, and disease risk of young athletes. It’s not that he weighs 360 or whatever because he has 30 pounds extra fat that he could lose.” It’s his bone density, his thickness, his muscle mass, that’s what’s incredible on him. “His were as good as anybody on the O-line. “The assumption is that being that big, you have to be carrying a lot of fat,” offensive line coach Ed Warinner explained in an interview with Telegram & Gazette. The results? Far from being obese, Onwenu was as healthy as any all-star athlete on the offensive line. Instead of scale weight or BMI, the nutrition and weight staff at Michigan checked Onwenu’s body composition, using a DEXA scanning technology to assess his body fat percentage and bone density. It wasn’t until Onwenu was recruited for the football team at the University of Michigan that people stopped questioning his health. And Onwenu, as any teenager would have, was bothered by assumptions made about him based on his weight and felt uncomfortable in his body. Many coaches and recruiters expressed concern that he was too big and assumed he must not be training hard enough. As a high schooler growing up at Cass Technical High School in Detroit, Onwenu was nicknamed “Big Mike” and was constantly being questioned for his weight. Onwenu’s misleading classification as obese demonstrates the limitations-and potential harm-of using BMI as a measure of health.
And not just any athlete-he’s the strong, fast, and fit offensive lineman for the New England Patriots who has been touted as “ one of the best rookies in the NFL.”
BODY FAT PERCENTAGES FOR ATHLETES PROFESSIONAL
That’s according to official parameters set by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), anyway, which relies on the Body Mass Index (BMI) to screen for overweight or obesity.īut in addition to being “severely obese,” Onwenu is a professional athlete.
At 6-foot-3 and 375 pounds with a BMI of 46.9, Michael Onwenu is “severely” obese.
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