Science for practice

Body Composition and the Volume and Intensity of Training Loads in Elite Weightlifters

M. S. Gisin, S. I. Lelikov, S. V. Stepanova, Moscow

English summary of Tyazhelaya Atletika. Ezhegodnik 1982 (Moscow: Fizkultura i Sport, 1982), pp. 42–44: the text is paraphrased, not translated; data tables are given in full with English labels.

Background and aim

Loads in the competition month have grown sharply. USSR national team, pre-Olympic competition month: 1972 — 798 ± 158 lifts at a mean weight of 124 ± 21.7 kg; 1980 — 1430 ± 403 lifts at 133.5 ± 26.7 kg.
Aim: objective state markers for individualising loads before major competitions. Body composition was chosen as informative about training (J. Pařízková, 1962; T. A. Enilina, 1967; A. Z. Pelipovsky, 1969; S. K. Yumasheva, 1971) and needing only scales, a stadiometer, a tape and a caliper.

Subjects and methods

Subjects: 11 Honoured MS and MSIC of the USSR team preparing for the 1979 World Championships.
Matiegka's (1921) method, right side, before morning training: upper-arm, forearm, thigh and calf girths; skinfolds (10 g/mm² caliper, 20–40 mm² pinch) at upper arm front and back, forearm, thigh, calf, abdomen, back and hand; weight before breakfast (± 50 g); height (± 0.5 cm); body surface S from the Du Bois table.
Formulas: fat with skin D = d·S·K₁ (d — mean skinfold, mm; K₁ = 1.3); muscle M = L·r²·K₂ (L — height, cm; r — mean skinfold-corrected radius of the four limb segments; K₂ = 6.5); relative values D/P and M/P × 100% (P — body weight).
Design: the last 30 days split into three 10-day periods, body composition measured four times (start and after each period). Loads counted from all lifts above 40%, as eight parameters (see table; after N. I. Luchkin, A. N. Vorobyov, R. A. Roman and A. I. Falameev, A. S. Medvedev and A. V. Chernyak), also for 20- and 30-day spans; muscle (ΔM) and fat (ΔD) changes correlated with each interval's load.

Tables 1–3. Correlations between changes in body composition and training load in the three 10-day periods

Period	Body composition	Tonnage, total	Lifts, total	Mean weight	Tonnage, S+CJ	Lifts, S+CJ	Lifts, S+CJ, %	Tonnage, other exercises	Lifts, other exercises
Period	Body composition	Load parameters
1st (Table 1)	ΔM	0.588	0.360	0.715	0.375	0.114	−0.316	0.712	0.582
1st (Table 1)	ΔD	−0.658	−0.434	−0.737	−0.509	−0.228	0.158	−0.720	−0.595
2nd (Table 2)	ΔM	−0.038	−0.075	0.163	0.127	−0.024	−0.007	−0.135	−0.089
2nd (Table 2)	ΔD	0.704	0.652	0.135	0.365	0.217	−0.316	0.771	0.766
3rd (Table 3)	ΔM	0.898	0.837	0.428	0.870	0.817	0.316	0.910	0.796
3rd (Table 3)	ΔD	−0.685	−0.532	−0.379	−0.712	−0.675	−0.413	−0.655	−0.385

ΔM, ΔD — change in absolute muscle and fat mass between the start and end of the period. S+CJ — snatch and clean-and-jerk exercises; “Lifts, S+CJ, %” — their share of all lifts (the original header repeats the label without “%”).

Findings

Days 1–10: changes were driven by high overall intensity and a large volume of assistance exercises — mean weight and assistance tonnage correlated directly with muscle gain and, more strongly, inversely with fat.
Days 11–20: a seemingly paradoxical pattern — higher volumes went with slight muscle loss in some athletes and fat gain in most, explained by the energy-reserve role of subcutaneous fat: reserves were being stored for the intensive work ahead.
Days 21–30: large snatch and clean-and-jerk volume went with fat loss (r = −0.712) and muscle gain (r = +0.870); assistance exercises also built muscle (r = 0.910), giving an optimal individual muscle-to-fat ratio.

Conclusion

The team's success at the 1979 World Championships in Thessaloniki confirms its good preparation. Body composition is informative in the competition month, and periodic measurement in the final stage should help coaches bring athletes to peak form.