Abdominal body composition differences in NFL football players.

The purpose of this study was to examine visceral fat mass as well as other measures abdominal body composition in National Football League (NFL) players before the start of the season. Three hundred and seventy NFL football players were measured before the start of the season using dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry. Regional fat and lean mass was measured for each player. Players were categorized into 3 groups based on positions that mirror each other: linemen; linebackers/tight ends/running backs and wide receivers/defensive backs. Significant differences were observed between the position groups for both lean and fat regional measurements. However, the magnitude of difference was much greater for fat measures than lean measures. Additionally, a threshold was observed (∼114 kg) at which there is a greater increase in fat accumulation than lean mass accumulation. The increase in fat accumulation is distributed to the abdominal region where thresholds were observed for subcutaneous abdominal fat accumulation (12.1% body fat) and visceral abdominal fat accumulation (20.1% body fat), which likely explains the regional fat differences between groups. The results of this study suggest that as players get larger, there is more total fat than total lean mass accumulation and more fat is distributed to the abdominal region. This is of importance as increased fat mass may be detrimental to performance at certain positions. The thresholds observed for increased abdominal fat accumulation should be monitored closely given recent research observed that abdominal obesity predicts lower extremity injury risk and visceral adipose tissue's established association with cardiometabolic risk.

Body composition and bone mineral density of national football league players.

The purpose of the present study was to examine the body composition of National Football League (NFL) players before the start of the regular season. Four hundred eleven NFL players were measured for height, weight and lean, fat, and bone mass using dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA). Subjects were categorized by their offensive or defensive position for comparison. On average, positions that mirror each other (i.e., offensive lineman [OL] vs. defensive lineman [DL]) have very similar body composition. Although OL had more fat mass than DL, they were similar in total and upper and lower lean mass. Linebackers (LB) and running backs (RB) were similar for all measures of fat and lean mass. Tight ends were unique in that they were similar to RB and LB on measures of fat mass; however, they had greater lean mass than both RB and LB and upper-body lean mass that was similar to OL. Quarterbacks and punters/kickers were similar in fat and lean masses. All positions had normal levels of bone mineral density. The DXA allowed us to measure differences in lean mass between arms and legs for symmetry assessments. Although most individuals had similar totals of lean mass in each leg and or arms, there were outliers who may be at risk for injury. The data presented demonstrate not only differences in total body composition, but also show regional body composition differences that may provide positional templates.