Morphological Characteristics and Explosive Power of Athlete and Non-Athlete

The aim of thisstudy was to identify the effect of somatotype and body composition variableson explosive power of college level men students. The sample consisted of youngcollege students (n= 500) divided into two groups: athletes undergoing Bachelorof Physical Education course (n= 250) aged 23.86 ± 0.36 years; and non-athletes,college students do not take part regular physical activities (n=250) aged 22.16± 0.88 years. The somatotype was assessed using the Heath & Carter method. Assessingbody composition of the subject various anthropometric measurements were taken.Sargent vertical jump test was used to assess leg explosive power. The measureswere compared between the two groups using the Student t-test for independentsamples. The two groups differed significantly in terms of body weight, % bodyfat, lean body mass, % skeletal muscle mass and somatotype. The vertical jumpwas positively significantly correlated with % skeletal muscle mass, lean bodymass, mesomorphy and ectomorphy components of somatotype; on the other handbody weight, height, % body fat, body surface area and endomorphy component ofsomatotype significantly negatively correlated.  In conclusion, somatotype and body compositionvariables are important factors in determining leg explosive power.