Influence of Training on Body Composition and Physical Health of Indian Young Female Canoers

— Canoeing is now a popular water sports. Although, males are mostly involved, very little information is there on training effect on female canoers. So, it is of great interest to explore the influence of systematic training on physical health and body composition of those athletes. The aim of the study was to explore the systematic training effect on the body composition and physical health of Indian young female canoers and to find out such a training intensity which would be suitable for the athletes to reach the zenith of their success. The experiment was carried out in the center of Jagatpur, Sports Authority of India on 7 female canoers. Body height (cm), body weight (kg) and body mass index or, BMI (kg/m2) were measured by the standard procedures. Body composition including fat mass (FM), fat free mass (FFM), total body water (TBW), extracellular water (ECW), intra cellular water (ICW), the ratio between extra and intra cellular water (ECW: ICW), body cell mass (BCM), muscle mass (MM), total body potassium (TBK), total body calcium (TBCa), glycogen and mineral were analysed using Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis or, BIA (Maltron Bioscan 920-2, UK). Total body electrical impedance attached to an alternate current (0.2mA and at frequencies of 5, 50, 100 and 200 KHz) was measured with the help of multi-frequency analyser. The training programme of our present study was divided into three phases- Pre-competitive Period (PCP), Competitive Period 1 (CP1), Completive Period 2 (CP2). Our present study was focused to analyse training influence on health and composition of body. Groups differences were determined by one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) then Schiff`s Post hoc test was performed with Confidence level at p<0.01 and p< 0.05. It was noted that the TBW (p value = 0.005) and mineral (p value = 0.049) content of female canoers were significantly and progressively increased from Precompetitive Period (PCP) to Competitive Period 2 (CP2). ICW (p value = 0.003), ECW/ICW ratio (p value = 0.004), TBK (p value = 0.005) and glycogen content (p value = 0.049) were also improved. It may be concluded that the body composition estimations are very much crucial to monitor obesity, nutritional status, training outcomes and general health of athletes; at the same time, designing and implication of proper training is essential to maintain proper body composition.