Anthropometric Characteristics of Elite Japanese Female Wrestlers

ABSTRACT.

The purposes of this study were to disclose the anthropometrical characteristics of elite Japanese female wrestlers and to compare them with those of other athletes reported in the literature. To this end, we tested 17 elite Japanese female wrestlers (nine and eight wrestlers, in light and heavyweight categories, respectively), most of who had won gold medals at the internationally recognized tournaments. Body composition, circumferences, and limb lengths were tested based on multi-frequency bioimpedance analysis (InBody 730, Biospace, Inc.) and whole-body scanning system (Body Line Scanner, Hamamatsu Photonics KK). The main results indicate that the participants are characterized as having great FFMI (fat-free mass divided by height squared, 18.8 ± 0.8 in light and 20.5 ± 0.8 in heavyweight groups) with intensely enlarged circumference especially within the arms (30.0 ± 2.7 cm for upper arms and 24.2 ± 1.5 cm for forearms). These findings suggest that elite female wrestlers have site-specific hypertrophied musculature only in the upper body, despite a general awareness of difficulty in developing upper limb muscles in women. We concluded that extreme development of fat-free tissue, specifically around the upper body, is an important requirement for female wrestlers to win the worldwide prestigious tournaments.

Keywords::

• combat
• woman
• profile
• wrestling
• judo