ANNUAL CHANGES IN LEAN AND FAT MASS IN YOUTH ELITE RUGBY LEAGUE PLAYERS Leeds Beckett University, Institute for Sport, Physical Activity & Leisure, Leeds, UK
Ben Jones, Deborah Smith, Joshua Darrall-Jones, Kevin Till
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@23benjones
Introduction Youth rugby league players identified as having potential to play at a senior level are recruited into a professional academy. The aim is then to physically prepare players for progression. Physical qualities of senior rugby league players are strength, power, speed and body composition, which differ between academy and professional players (Till et al., 2016). Also, players who compete in the Super League (highest level of competition in England) have more lean mass and less fat mass, than those in the Championship (tier below Super League) (Jones et al., 2016), thus the development of body composition is an important consideration within this cohort.
Methods Thirty-three male elite youth rugby league players (age = 17 ± 1 yrs) from U16 (n=10), U17 (n=8), U18 (n=8) and U19 (n=7) squads received DXA scans in preseason (November 2014), midseason (June 2015) and then the following preseason (November 2015).
Results Annually, U16-17s had a moderate increase in lean mass, whereas U18-19s had a small and trivial decrease. Annually, U16, 18-19s had a small increase while U17s had a moderate increase in fat mass. U16-17s had moderate and small increases, and U18-19s had a small decrease in lean mass between preseason and midseason. U16, U17 and U19 had small increases in lean mass between midseason and preseason. U17 and U18 had small increases in fat mass between preseason and midseason. U16, U17 and U19 had small increases between midseason and preseason for fat mass. All other changes in lean and fat mass were trivial. Conclusions Younger elite RL players (U16-17s) demonstrate annual increases in lean mass, whereas older players (U18-19s) demonstrate reductions in lean mass during this period. All groups demonstrated annual increases in fat mass. The training exposure (or potentially recovery from match exposure) appears inadequate to facilitate lean mass development in older youth rugby league players, which is an important attribute for player development.
Practical Applications Facilitating the development of youth rugby league players is a primary aim of practitioners. Typically, the development of youth athletes is concurrent to a playing program, whereby players typically compete weekly. Practitioners should employ specific strategies to facilitate lean mass development (e.g., nutritional support, hypertrophy resistance training focus, or removal from a playing program for a period of time) when in-season. Also if required, practitioners should manage fat mass gains (e.g., nutritional support, exercise intervention) both during the season and in the offseason as high lean mass and low fat mass would align with the requirements of progression in rugby league.
NSCA Conference 2016, 6-9 July 2016
References Jones, B., Till, K., Lees, M., Barlow, M., O’Hara, J., Hind, K. (2015) Anthropometric and threecompartment body composition differences between Super League and Championship rugby league players: Considerations for the 2015 season and beyond. PLOS one Till, K., Jones, B., O’Hara, J., Barlow, M., Lees, M., Hind, K. (2016) Three-compartment body composition in academy and senior rugby league players. International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance
