Determining body structure in physical culture, sports, but also in sports recreation is one
of the ways to check effectiveness of certain training programs and their impact on a percentage of
subcutaneous fat and fat-free components. This study was conducted on a sample of 49 kayakers
and slalom canoeists (aged 19.9 ± 1.7 years), and the aim was to compare validity of methods for
estimating percentage of body fat based on the skinfold measurement method in relation to the
bioelectrical impedance method for application in diagnostics within a training process of slalom
kayakers and slalom canoeists. The percentage of body fat was determined by methods of
determining the percentage of body fat according to Siri (1961), Brozek et al. (1963), Jackson, &
Pollock, (1985) and the BIA bioelectrical impedance method. After statistical procedures,
correlation analysis revealed a high correlation between the methods: anthropometric methods
according to Siri and Brozek, both methods with the Jackson Pollock method, while all three
methods have a high level of correlation with the BIA method, while the Wilcoxon test showed that
the bioelectrical impedance method had statistically significantly higher values than the method of
determining the percentage of body fat according to Siri & Brozek (p <0.001), and significantly
lower than the method of determining the percentage of body fat according to Jackson Pollock (p =
0.005). The research showed that in the observed sample of respondents, when it comes to one
respondent, a group of respondents, respondents within one sport or an uneven sample of non-
athletes, if it is not possible to use some of the more sophisticated BIA methods, a satisfactory
method could be the skinfold measurement method.
