BIOELECTRICAL IMPEDANCE VECTOR ANALYSIS AND SOMATOTYPE OF CROSSFIT PRACTITIONERS

Purpose: CrossFit is a high-intensity sport characterized by various workouts that require strength, speed, endurance, or agility, which impact the body composition of its participants. This observational study aimed to determine the morphological (anthropometrical and bioelectrical) profile of CrossFit athletes and to compare them with other athletic populations. Methods: Anthropometrical measurements and bioelectrical vector analysis (classic and specific approaches) were performed on 145 CrossFit practitioners (107 men and 38 women). Each participant’s relative somatotype was calculated and compared between sexes and with a Spanish CrossFit athletes’group. Resistance-reactance graphs and Hotelling’s T2 test were used to characterize the sample, compare them with an athletes’reference population, and identify difference between somatotype groups. Results: The most represented somatotype in both groups was the balanced mesomorph. When compared with Spanish CrossFit athletes, significant differences were denoted for men but not for women. The bioelectrical graphs indicated that the distribution of CrossFit athletes is quite heterogeneous and within average values for the athlete’s reference. The mesomorphic and endomorphic components were associated with a higher phase angle. Conclusions: CrossFit practitioners predominantly present a mesomorphic component and show a body type like other power athletes, although with less pronounced characteristics. The somatotype type may influence the vector’s position in the RXc graphs. For the first time, this study provided the bioelectrical tolerance ellipses for CrossFit practitioners in classic and specific approaches.