Muscle-fat index and its correlation with oxygen consumption

Muscle-fat index, as a ratio between relative muscle mass and relative fat mass and a predicted factor of sport somatotype, is connected with oxygen consumption in some sports, suggesting that type of sport could influence the sport performance. The group of 331 athletes (basketball, handball and volleyball) was recruited for this study. Using anthropometry, we calculated absolute and relative muscle and fat mass. We measured indirectly VO2max (ml/kg/min) and VO2 (ml/kg muscle mass). Although, there were gender significant differences in muscle-fat index, VO2 and VO2max in each sport, positive significant correlation between muscle-fat index and VO2 and VO2max were noticed only in basketball players.