Body composition determinants of aerobic performance in elite soccer players: a partial correlation and regression...

The negative impact of excess adipose tissue on aerobic capacity in endurance athletes is now considered well-established. However, there is a lack of research examining this relationship in team sport athletes.

Thirty-eight soccer players (mean age 23.60±4.22 years) from a leading Russian Premier League team participated in the study. On the first day of the pre-season training camp, participants underwent skinfold measurements according to the International Society for the Advancement of Kinanthropometry standards and a treadmill test with gas analysis.

Correlation analysis showed moderate inverse associations between adiposity markers and VO2-derived outcomes. Higher body fat percentage was associated with lower relative VO2max and vVO2max, while the sum of eight skinfolds showed a similar direction of association. However, after FDR correction, these associations should be interpreted cautiously. In prespecified HC3-robust regression models, each 1 percentage point higher body fat was associated with -1.93 mL·kg^-1·min^-1 lower relative VO2max and -0.49 km·h^-1 lower vVO2max. Each 10 mm higher sum of eight skinfolds was associated with -1.77 mL·kg^-1·min^-1 lower relative VO2max and -0.38 km·h^-1 lower vVO2max. Model performance under leave-one-out cross-validation was limited, indicating weak individual-level predictive accuracy.

Higher adiposity markers were directionally associated with lower relative VO2max and vVO2max in elite adult male soccer players. However, the cross-sectional design, modest sample size, high FDR-adjusted q-values, and limited cross-validated performance indicate that the findings should be interpreted as exploratory group-level associations rather than robust individual-level prediction.