Arm muscular tissue and fat ring areas can be evaluated by anthropometric measures. The objective of this study was to investigate the application of one technique that infers these areas to estimate body adiposity and the maximal strength of upper limbs and trunk, as well as its objectivity. For that, a sample of 40 healthy men (25 ± 6 years; 72.6 ± 9.4 kg) was divided in two groups: VI (n = 30) internal validation and VE (n = 10) external validation. It was determined to VI the muscle area (A MB), fat absolute area (A GB) and fat percentile upper-arm area (A PB) using the values of circumference and triceps skinfold, as well as the sum of seven and eight skinfold thickness (S8DC) and the maximal weight lifted in bench press (1-RM) by two evaluators separately (A and B). In VE only A MB and 1-RM were obtained. Multiple and simple regression analyses and Student t-test were applied (a < 0.05). The variance of S8DC was explained in 93% (EPE = 14.6 mm) from A GB and weight, the A MB explained in 66% (EPE = 9 kg) of the 1-RM variance by itself and there was no significant difference between the maximal weight measured and predicted in VE group. Satisfactory intraclass correlations between the evaluators to A MB (ICC = 0.99), A GB (ICC = 0.96) and A TB (ICC = 0.99) were also found. Therefore it may be concluded that the anthropometric technique that infers muscle and fat upper-arm areas can be used with good agreement between evaluators to estimate body adiposity and upper limbs and trunk strength.
Upper-arm muscle area; Upper-arm fat percentile area; Body adiposity; Limbs and trunk maximal strength; Bench press
