The effects of age and body weight on anthropometric estimations of minimal wrestling weight in high school wrestlers

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of age and body weight on anthropometric estimations of minimal wrestling weight (MWW) in high school wrestlers. Five hundred and twenty-two high school wrestlers (M age ± SD = 16.45 ± 1.03 years) volunteered as subjects for this study. The total sample (N = 522) was dichotomized by age (<16 years, n = 171;>16 years, n = 351) and body weight (<62.60 kg, n = 252; >62.60 kg, n = 270). Cross-validation analyses included examination of the constant error (CE), standard error of estimate (SEE), r, and total error (TE). The results indicated that the quadratic skitfold equation ofLohman (EQ1; Table 2) most accurately estimated MWW in each group. Furthermore, it was recommended that MWW be calculated from EQ1 using the conversion constants ofLohman ([(5.03IBD) - 459] x 100) to estimate relative fat from body density.