Seasonal changes in body composition of inter-county Gaelic Athletic Association hurlers

ABSTRACT

Longitudinal change in body composition for elite-level inter-county hurlers was reported over a single season and four consecutive seasons. Body composition measured by dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) of 66 senior, male, outfield players was obtained. Four successive measurements were taken: off-season (OFF₁), pre-season (PRE), mid-season (MID) and the off-season of the following season (OFF₂). A subsample of 11 hurlers were measured at all time points over 4 consecutive seasons. DXA-derived estimates of fat and lean mass were normalised to stature for analysis (kg∙m^‒2); data are (mean [lower: upper, 95% confidence interval]). A concurrent increase of lean mass (0.31 [0.19: 0.43] kg∙m^‒2) and loss of fat mass occurred (−0.38 [−0.50: −0.26] kg∙m^‒2) OFF₁ to PRE. Lean mass accrual was maintained PRE to OFF₂ while the initial loss of fat mass was restored MID to OFF₂ (0.52 [0.40: 0.64] kg ∙ m^‒2), with the trunk acting as the primary region of change. Over the four seasons, a net increase of lean mass was observed (~ 0.9 [0.4: 1.4] kg per annum) with a negligible overall change for fat mass over time. However, the cycling of fat mass (OFF to PRE and MID to OFF) within each season was recurrent season-to-season.

KEYWORDS:

• Hurling
• Gaelic games
• body composition
• DXA
• seasonal

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank all athletes for their participation and their respective coaches for seeking to inform and advance best practice. The authors recognise the commitment of Peter Francis, Ciara Sinnott-O’Connor, Beate Gillson, Mark Lyons, Rhoda Sohun, Alexandra Cremona and Siobhan Leahy, who contributed to the data collection process over the period of the study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

Research was conducted under the aegis of the University of Limerick Body Composition Project within the Department of Physical Education and Sport Sciences, University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland.