Lean mass and biological maturation as predictors of muscle power and strength performance in young athletes

The biological maturation (BM) analyzed by peak height velocity (PHV) and bone age (BA), and lean body mass has been associated with the strength and muscle power of young athletes. However, the ability of BM (PHV and BA) and LM markers to predict muscle strength and power in young athletes remains uncertain. The Aim was determine the predicting power of BM markers (PHV and BA) and LM in relation to muscle power of upper and lower limbs and muscle strength of upper limbs in adolescent athletes at puberty. Ninety-two adolescent athletes (both sexes; age 12.4 ± 1.02 years) were assessed for body composition by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA). Power of upper limbs (ULP), force handgrip (HG), vertical jump (VJ) and countermovement jump (CMJ) were recorded. BM was predicted by mathematical models to estimate PHV and BA. Multilayer artificial neural network analyses (MLP's) were used to determine the power of prediction of LM, PHV and BA on muscle power and strength of upper- and lower-limbs of the athletes. LM, BA and PHV were associated with HG (r>0.74, p0.60, p0.55, p0.53, p0.60, p64% in both female and male adolescent athletes. We identified that, like PHV and BA, LM is a strong predictor of low cost of both upper limbs muscle strength and upper and lower limbs power in adolescent athletes.