The assessment of an athlete's physiology is a key skill for the applied exercise physiologist as it allows for the planning of training and competition strategy. One key aspect of this assessment is the analysis of his/her body composition. The present article examines issues related to measuring body composition in an athletic population. Numerous methods are currently employed; however Dual-energy X-ray Absorptiometry (DXA) should be considered the most valid in an athletic population. This article will examine some of the shortcomings in other methods as well as identify some of the theory underpinning the measurement of body composition and the use of DXA.
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