| The relationship of age and swimming velocity with percent body fat, fat-free/lean tissue mass, fat mass, sum of six skinfolds, trunk/extremities skinfold ratio, waist circumference and abdominal sagittal diameter was examined in 36 female Masters swimmers. Swimming velocity was defined as weekly distance traveled divided by time spent swimming. Subject ages ranged from 21 to 73 years of age and swimming velocities, from 19.4 to 52.9 m/min. Methods of total body composition estimation included hydrodensitometry, dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry, and a four-component model. Subcutaneous adiposity was predicted from the sum of six skinfold sites and the trunk-to-extremities ratio. The waist circumference and abdominal sagittal diameter were used to estimate visceral fat mass. The association of age with percent body fat, fat-free/lean tissue mass, fat mass, sum of six skinfolds, trunk-to-extremities ratio, and abdominal sagittal diameter was low to moderate with shared variances from 12% to 25%. No relationship was observed between age and waist circumference. Swimming velocity also shared a low to moderate association with percent body fat, fat-free/lean tissue, fat mass, and abdominal sagittal diameter which ranged from 15% to 38%. No significant association was seen between swimming velocity and the sum of six skinfolds, the trunk/extremities ratio, or with waist circumference. Relationships between the two predictors and percent body fat, fat mass, and regional adiposity assumed curvilinear shapes and were best predicted using quadratic regression models. In contrast, the association of both age and swimming velocity with fat-free/lean tissue mass was low and linear. It was negative between age and fat-free/lean tissue and positive between swimming velocity and this criterion variable. The results from the present investigation suggest that age and swimming velocity are not strong predictors of percent body fat, fat mass, fatfree/lean tissue, subcutaneous fat deposits, or visceral adiposity. |
