Body composition in male lifelong trained strength, sprint and endurance athletes and healthy age-matched controls.

Aging involves many physiological processes that lead to decreases in muscle mass and increases in fat mass. While regular exercise can counteract such negative body composition outcomes, masters athletes maintain high levels of exercise throughout their lives. This provides a unique model to assess the impact of inherent aging. The present study compared lean mass and fat mass in young and masters athletes from different sports to age-matched non-athletic individuals. Participants included young (20-39 years, ALMI was greater in young strength (0.81-2.36 kg/m Lifelong competitive sport participation leads to lower prevalence of sarcopenic obesity than a recreationally active lifestyle. This is achieved in strength athletes by emphasizing muscle mass, while sprint and endurance athletes demonstrate low fat mass levels. However, all older athlete groups showed higher fat mass than the young groups, suggesting that exercise alone may not be sufficient to manage fat mass.

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© 2023 Walker, von Bonsdorff, Cheng, Häkkinen, Bondarev, Heinonen and Korhonen.

Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.