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PURPOSE: We developed a scale for comparison of performances by weightlifters of different body mass and compare this scaling formula to current systems. METHODS: Data from Olympics and World and Continental Championships from 2017 to 2021 were obtained; results from athletes with doping violations were excluded, resulting in performances from 1900 athletes from 150 countries for use in analysis. Functional relationships between performance and body mass were explored by testing various transformations of body mass in the form of fractional polynomials that include a wide range of nonlinear relationships. These transformations were evaluated in quantile regression models to determine the best fit, examine sex differences, and distinguish fits for different performance levels (90th, 75th, and 50th percentiles). RESULTS: The resulting model used a transformation of body mass with powers -2 and 2 for males and females and was used to specify a scaling formula. The small percentage deviations between modeled and actual performances confirm the high accuracy of the model. In the subset of medalists, scaled performances were comparable across different body masses, whereas both Sinclair and Robi scalings, currently used in competitions, were more variable. The curves had similar shapes for the 90th and 75th percentile levels but were less steep for the 50th percentile. CONCLUSIONS: The scaling formula we derived to compare weightlifting performances across a range of body mass can easily be implemented in the competition software to determine the overall best lifters. This is an improvement over current methods that do not accurately account for differences in body mass and result in bias or yield large variations even with small differences in body mass despite identical performances.
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Doping en los Deportes , Levantamiento de Peso , Humanos , Masculino , Femenino , Ejercicio Físico , Atletas , Caracteres SexualesRESUMEN
Although the benefits of sport participation for older adults has been well-documented, the traditionally masculine sport of weightlifting has only recently become popular among older women, who now participate at rates comparable to men in the United States. This study describes the self-reported effects of participating in Masters-level Olympic weightlifting on other aspects of life. Contrasting with previous studies of Masters athletes in other sports, the gender balance and broad age range of our sample allowed us to explore whether the self-reported impact of sport on older adults was similar or different across age groups (35-44, 45-59, 60, and older) for both men and women. A total of 352 (191 women, 159 men, 2 other) who completed a survey of Masters lifters registered with the United States national organization (USAW) responded to an open-ended question about how weightlifting has affected other aspects of their life. Across gender and age categories, responses indicated that weightlifting has a positive impact on physical health (strength, mobility, fitness) and on psychological (mental health benefits, stress reduction) and social aspects such as community connections. Female lifters mentioned psychological benefits such as increased confidence and help with stress and depression more commonly than male lifters; older lifters were more likely than middle-aged lifters to mention physical health benefits. Competition was a prominent theme across genders and age groups. The themes mentioned by participants are consistent with previous literature on sports that are less strongly gender-typed than weightlifting.
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[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0243652.].
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INTRODUCTION: The rate of decline in physical performance for women is thought to be faster than that for men at any age in the Masters age classes in weightlifting and other sports. We quantified the age-associated decline in Olympic weightlifting separately for women and men and investigated possible impact of perimenopausal years on the performance decline. METHODS: Results from Masters Weightlifting competitions from 1993 to 2018 were compiled from original score sheets and meet results made available by International Weightlifting Federation. Quantile curves were estimated for the age-related performance decline, and confidence intervals (CI) for the fractional performance with reference age 35 yr were calculated. Age-related decline curves were estimated for different periods to examine changes in performance levels. RESULTS: A total of 10,225 performance results for male and female weightlifters age 35 to 90 yr from 71 countries were included in the analysis. At age 40 yr compared with age 35 yr, the fractional performance is 0.947 (95% CI, 0.926-0.975), for men and 0.952 (95% CI. 0.898-0.986) for women while this is reduced to 0.723 (95% CI: 0.651-0.800) at age 60 yr for men and 0.604 (95% CI. 0.543-0.706) for women. Female performance levels before 2000 were worse; however, they have stabilized since 2013. CONCLUSIONS: The performances of women weightlifters have improved over the last 25 yr. Thus, previous publications do not reflect current physical capabilities of women. The age-associated performance decline for female weightlifters mirrors the decline for men except for an accelerated decline during a 10-yr period across the age range from late 40s to late 50s thus coinciding with a transition into menopause.