Document Type
Article
Department or Administrative Unit
Nutrition Exercise and Health Sciences
Publication Date
2-9-2022
Abstract
Understanding the nexus between aging, physical activity, and obesity has been a source of ongoing investigation. A considerable amount of research has focused on Masters athletes in this regard, suggesting a beneficial relationship between Masters sport participation and a healthy body mass index (BMI). Some consider Active Duty military personnel as tactical athletes. As such, it is of interest to determine if aging Active Duty military personnel (or Masters Tactical Athletes) might have a similar BMI as other Masters athletes (MA). As such, this investigation examined previously recorded data of Active Duty Enlisted United States Marines (n = 402, male, 46–50 years old). The BMI of the Marines was stratified into categories of: underweight, normal, overweight, and obese. The Marines obesity prevalence was compared to US adult males (40–59 years) as well as male North American MA who competed at the 2009 Sydney World Masters Games. The Marines obesity prevalence was significantly lower than US adult males (p < 0.001) and those MA that competed in softball (p < 0.001); however, it was similar to MA that competed in football, track/field, swimming, and volleyball (p > 0.05). The average Marine BMI = 26.7 kg/m2 was similar to MA who competed in football, swimming, and volley ball (p > 0.05); however, it was higher than MA who competed in track/field (p < 0.05) and lower than MA who played softball (p < 0.05). It should be noted that the average BMI for the Marines and all MA sport categories were classified as being overweight. Within the parameters of this investigation, Tactical MA (i.e., aging US Marines) enjoy a similar beneficial BMI as other North American MA.
Recommended Citation
Keefer, M., Walsh, J., Adams, K., Climstein, M., Harris, C., & DeBeliso, M. (2022). Tactical Masters Athletes: BMI Index Classifications. Sports, 10(2), 22. https://doi.org/10.3390/sports10020022
Journal
Sports
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Rights
© 2022 by the authors.
Included in
Exercise Science Commons, Nutrition Commons, Sports Sciences Commons
Comments
This article was originally published Open Access in Sports. The full-text article from the publisher can be found here.
Marc Keefer is the Sports Equipment & Game Operations Manager at CWU Wildcats Athletics.