Anaerobic power of arms in teenage boys and girls: relationship to lean tissue

The purpose of this study was to describe anaerobic peak and mean power characteristics of arms as a function of age, gender and body composition among 50 girls and 50 boys 14 to 19 years of age. Peak (pP) and mean power (MP) output were determined during arm cranking (Wingate anaerobic test). Fat-free weight (FFW) was estimated from skinfolds, and lean arm volume (LAV) was determined by water displacement, corrected for fat volume. PP and MP increased progressively and significantly (P<0.05) with age for boys but not for the girls. Boys had significantly larger absolute PP and MP outputs than girls at comparable ages. PP and MP corrected for lean tissue volume were greater in older than younger boys (P<0.05), but did not vary significantly with age for girls. Absolute (W) PP and MP were highly correlated with LAV (r = 0.82;r = 0.75) and FFW (r = 0.84;r = 0.78) among boys. The respectiver values for girls were 0.60 and 0.49 (LAV); 0.78 and 0.60 (FFW). Absolute peak and mean power, respectively, were more highly correlated with LAV (r = 0.90;r = 0.84) and FFW (r = 0.90;r = 0.85) for the combined data for boys and girls than for similar gender specific comparisons. In conclusion, both anaerobic PP and MP of arms during adolescence are highly correlated with lean tissue volume and fat-free weight, particularly among boys.