Murata et al. Journal of Physiological Anthropology (2016) 35:10
DOI 10.1186/s40101-016-0092-8

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Open Access

Characteristics of body composition andcardiometabolic risk of Japanese maleheavyweight Judo athletes
Hiroko Murata2, Satomi Oshima1, Suguru Torii1, Motoko Taguchi1 and Mitsuru Higuchi1*

Abstract
Background: The purpose of this study was to clarify the characteristics of body composition and cardiometabolicrisk of Japanese male heavyweight Judo athletes compared with heavyweight athletes of other sports.
Methods: Nineteen heavyweight Judo athletes (mean age, 20.4 ± 1.1 years), as well as 22 heavyweight (mean age,
21.5 ± 0.9 years) and 17 nonheavyweight (mean age, 21.1 ± 0.8 years) American football and Rugby football athletesin Japan participated in this study. Body composition was assessed by using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry andmagnetic resonance imaging. Cardiometabolic risk was evaluated by measuring blood biochemical variables.
Results: Heavyweight Judo athletes had significantly heavier body mass (122.7 ± 13.1 kg vs. 99.0 ± 8.1 kg), higher
body fat percentage (27.5 % ± 5.2 % vs. 19.4 % ± 4.7 %), and larger visceral fat cross-sectional area (118 ± 35 cm2 vs.
67 ± 24 cm2) (P < 0.01) compared with heavyweight football players. Although the cardiometabolic risk was higher
in heavyweight athletes compared to nonheavyweight athletes, there were no significant differences between
heavyweight Judo and heavyweight Football athletes in the blood biochemical variables, except for highconcentration of uric acid in heavyweight Judo athletes.
Conclusions: Even though heavyweight Judo athletes had more excess fat mass, especially VF mass, theircardiometabolic risk in terms of blood biochemical parameters was not significantly higher compared withheavyweight athletes of other sports. Therefore, excessive fat accumulation may not necessarily increase
cardiometabolic risk for heavyweight Judo athletes.
Trial registration: This trial is registered with the University Hospital Medical Information Network Clinical Trial
Registration (UMIN-CTR) UMIN000020564.
Keywords: Visceral fat, Obesity, Metabolically healthy obese, Uric acid

BackgroundObesity, especially having visceral fat accumulation, is
known to be a major risk factor in cardiovascular disease[1, 2]. Heavyweight athletes, including those who participate in Judo, American football, and Rugby football, often
intentionally try to increase their body mass (BM) because
it significantly influences their athletic performance [3].
However, it was recently reported that heavyweight athletes
have high cardiometabolic risk compared with nonheavyweight athletes, even though they are actively participating* Correspondence: mhiguchi@waseda.jp
1
Faculty of Sport Sciences, Waseda University, 2-579-15 Mikajima,
Tokorozawa-shi, Saitama 359-1192, Japan
Full list of author information is available at the end of the article

in a sport [4–6]. Linemen in the National Football League
in the USA have higher body fat percentage compared withplayers in other positions, and such excess body fat may increase the risk of metabolic syndrome, when they are actively playing [4]. This association is seen not only inWestern athletes but also among Asian athletes [7]. Professional Chinese heavyweight athletes in strength sports including Judo and Wrestling are at significantly higher riskof cardiovascular disease compared with other sports orathletes in lower body weight classes of a same sport [7].
The heaviest weight class in Judo, over 100 kg class formale and over 78 kg for female does not have an upper
limit in their BM regulation when athletes enter competitions. Therefore, Judo athletes in the heaviest weight© 2016 Murata et al. Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, andreproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to
the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver(http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.

Murata et al. Journal of Physiological Anthropology (2016) 35:10

class put significant effort toward maintaining or gaining
BM. In fact, a previous study showed that heavyweight
Judo athletes carry one of the heaviest BM and highest
body fat percentage compared with other heavyweightathletes in other sports such as wrestlers and weightlifters [7]. As a result, heavyweight Judo athletes may havehigher cardiometabolic risk compared with other heavyweight athletes. However, the previous study did not investigate body composition in detail, such as measuring
body fat percentage by using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) and visceral fat (VF) by using magnetic
resonance imaging (MRI) in relationship with cardiometabolic risk. If heavyweight Judo athletes indeed have highcardiometabolic risk, such risk may harm their present
health. Furthermore, it may increase their risk of cardiovascular disease after they retire from their playing sport[8]. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to clarify
the characteristics of body composition and cardiometabolic risk of Japanese male heavyweight Judo athletescompared with heavyweight athletes of other sports. We
hypothesized that because heavyweight Judo athletes had
higher body fat percentage [7], they expected to haveexcessive VF mass and increase cardiometabolic risk
compared with heavyweight athletes in other sports.

Methods
Participants

We recruited 19 collegiate heavyweight Judo athletes
from the All Japan University Judo Championships teamas the heavyweight Judo group (mean age, 20.4 ±1.1 years). In 19 heavyweight Judo athletes, 18 athletes
were categorized in over 100 kg weight class and one
athlete was categorized 100 kg weight class without
intentional weight loss. For comparison, 22 heavyweightathletes (BM, >90 kg) were recruited from linemen on
an American football team and from forwards position
on a Rugby football team as the heavyweight footballgroup (mean age, 21.5 ± 0.9 years). Additionally, 17 nonheavyweight athletes (BM, <90 kg) also were recruitedfrom the previously mentioned American football and
Rugby football teams as the nonheavyweight group(mean age, 21.1 ± 0.8 years). These teams belonged to
the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division 1
in Japan. All participants in this study were adequately
informed about the study by verbal and written descriptions, and each participant provided written informed
consent before starting the study. This study was approved by the Ethical Committee of Human Research of
Waseda University for use of human subjects in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki.

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and heavyweight football athletes (BM, >90 kg; heavyweight football group). Additionally, in order toemphasize the cardiometabolic risk of heavyweight athletes, “heavyweight group,” which included both heavyweight Judo and heavyweight football athletes, was setup
to compare heavyweight and nonheavyweight athletes.
Lower weight class Judo athletes were excluded fromthis study, since they were often involved in an
intentional weight loss which may influence their metabolic state. We examined body composition parametersin detail by using DXA and MRI, while cardiometabolicrisk was assessed by measuring blood biochemical variables in fasting state. All the measurements of participants were collected in the same laboratory facility inthe morning during in-season
Measurement of body composition parameters

BM was measured to the nearest 0.1 kg by using an electronic scale (UC-321; A&D, Tokyo, Japan) under fasting
condition in the morning. Body height was measured to
the nearest 0.1 cm by using a stadiometer (YL-65;
YAGAMI, Nagoya, Japan) with minimal clothing. Body
mass index (BMI) was calculated from the measured BM(kg) and height (m). Body fat percentage was assessed byusing DXA (Hologic QDT-4500; Hologic, Waltham,
MA, USA). Total fat mass and fat-free mass (FFM) were
calculated from BM and body fat percentage. Waist circumference was measured to the nearest 0.1 cm byusing an inelastic measuring tape at the midpoint between the inferior coastal margin and the superiorborder of the iliac crest. VF and subcutaneous fat (SF)cross-sectional areas were measured by using MRI(Signa 1.5T; General Electric Co., Milwaukee, WI, USA).
Imaging conditions included a T1-weighted spin-echo
and axial-plane sequence with a slice thickness of
10 mm, repetition time of 140 ms, and echo time of
12.3 ms. Cross-sectional images were scanned at the L45 level, which was commonly used in previous studies,
especially in obese populations [9]. During scanning,
subjects were required to hold their breath for approximately 30 s after inhalation to reduce respiratory motion
artifacts. The images were transferred to a personal
computer in DICOM file format. VF and SF crosssectional areas were determined using digital image analysis software (Slice-O-Matic 4.3 for Windows; Tomovision, Montreal, Canada). To minimize interobserver
variation, all analyses were performed by the same investigator. The coefficient of variation was 2.4 % for VF
cross-sectional area and 0.1 % for SF, respectively.
Collection and analysis of blood samples

Design and procedure

The present cross-sectional study was designed to compare heavyweight Judo athletes (heavyweight Judo group)

Venous blood samples were collected between 7:00 AM
and 10:00 AM after at least 12 h of overnight fasting. Aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferaseMurata et al. Journal of Physiological Anthropology (2016) 35:10(ALT), and γ-glutamyl transpeptidase (γ-GTP) were used
as indices of liver function. Total cholesterol, high-density
lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), and triglycerides (TGs)
were analyzed as indices of the lipid profile. Low-density
lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) was calculated using theFriedewald equation [10]. Uric acid concentration (UA)was used as the index of uric acid metabolism. Furthermore, plasma glucose, serum insulin, and homeostasis
model assessment insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) wereassessed as indices of glucose metabolism. HOMA-IR was
calculated from plasma glucose and serum insulin concentrations. All blood parameters were analyzed by Mitsubishi
Chemical Medience, Inc. (Tokyo, Japan).
Statistical analyses

All statistical analyses were performed using SPSS version
22.0 (SPSS, Chicago, IL, USA). We examined differences
in body composition variables and blood biochemical variables between heavyweight athletes group and nonheavyweight athletes group as well as the heavyweight Judoathletes group and heavyweight football athletes groupusing the unpaired t test. Non-normally distributed variables were log transformed for analysis. Prevalence of eachcardiometabolic risk factor was compared between heavyweight Judo, heavyweight football, and nonheavyweightgroups using the chi-square test. All measurements
were presented as mean ± SD or median (from 25 to
75 % quartile range). The statistical significance level
was set at P < 0.05.

Results
Body composition

The comparison of body composition variables between heavyweight group and nonheavyweight group
was presented in Table 1. All body composition parameters were significantly higher in the heavyweightgroup, except for body height. Table 2 showed thecomparison of body composition parameters between
heavyweight Judo and heavyweight football groups.
The heavyweight Judo group showed significantly
higher values in the parameters of fatness comparedwith the heavyweight football group such as total fat
percentage and VF.
Cardiometabolic risk

The comparison of blood biochemical variables between heavyweight group and nonheavyweight groupwere presented in Table 3. ALT, γ-GPT, UA, glucose,
insulin, and HOMA-IR in heavyweight group were significantly higher than in nonheavyweight group. Table 4
showed the comparison of blood biochemical variables
between heavyweight Judo group and heavyweight football. Only UA concentration was significantly higher inthe heavyweight Judo group compared with in the

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Table 1 Comparison of body composition variables between
heavyweight and nonheavyweight groups
Heavyweight

Nonheavyweight(n = 41)(n = 17)P
value†Height (cm)177.4 ± 5.7

175.6 ± 3.9

0.218

Body mass (kg)†110.0 ± 16.0

78.9 ± 5.0<0.001

BMI (kg/m2)

35.0 ± 4.9

25.6 ± 1.9<0.001

Total

23.2 ± 6.0

13.0 ± 2.6<0.001

fat mass (kg)26.2 ± 10.1

10.3 ± 2.6<0.001

fat free mass (kg)

83.8 ± 8.1

68.5 ± 3.4<0.001

Waist circumference (cm)103 ± 1082 ± 4<0.001VF (cm2)†

91 ± 3933 ± 14<0.001SF (cm2)

321 ± 135

94 ± 46<0.001

fat percentage (%)†

Data were expressed as mean ± SD. BMI body mass index, VF visceral fat area, SF
subcutaneous fat area; *Log-transformed variables for non-normally distributed
variables (body mass, total fat mass, VF) were used. †P value for difference
between heavyweight Judo and football groups was assessed by unpaired t test.
Significant differences, P < 0.05

heavyweight football group. Figure 1 showed the prevalence of cardiometabolic risk assessed by blood biochemical analysis in all three groups. The prevalence ofabnormally high ALT in both the heavyweight Judo andheavyweight football groups was significantly higher
than that in the nonheavyweight group. Additionally,
the prevalence of abnormally high UA and TG levels in
the heavyweight Judo group was significantly higher
than those in the nonheavyweight group. The prevalence of other components, such as AST, γ-GTP, HDLC, LDL-C, and HOMA-IR, were not significantly different between the three groups.

Table 2 Comparison of body composition variables between
heavyweight Judo and football groups
P value†

Heavyweight (n = 41)
Judo (n = 19)

Football (n = 22)

Height (cm)177.2 ± 6.1

177.6 ± 5.6

0.837

Body mass (kg)*122.7 ± 13.1

99.0 ± 8.1<0.001

BMI (kg/m2)

39.1 ± 3.8

31.4 ± 2.3<0.001

Total fat percentage (%)

27.5 ± 5.2

19.4 ± 3.7<0.001

fat mass (kg)34.1 ± 8.8

19.4 ± 4.7<0.001

fat free mass (kg)88.6 ± 8.0

79.7 ± 5.5

0.005

Waist circumference (cm)111 ± 796 ± 7<0.001VF (cm2)*

118 ± 35

67 ± 24<0.001433 ± 100

223 ± 70<0.001*

2

SF (cm )Data were expressed as mean ± SD. BMI body mass index, VF visceral fat area, SF
subcutaneous fat area; *Log-transformed variables for non-normally distributed
variables (body mass, total fat mass, VF) were used. †P value for difference
between heavyweight Judo and football groups was assessed by unpaired t test.
Significant differences, P < 0.05

Murata et al. Journal of Physiological Anthropology (2016) 35:10

Table 3 Comparison of blood biochemical parameters between
heavyweight and nonheavyweight groups(n = 41)

Nonheavyweight P value‡ Normal
range(n = 17)

AST* (U/L)

28 (24–38)

24 (20–30)

0.053

10–40

ALT* (U/L)

38 (29–49)

20 (15–27)<0.001

5–45

γ-GTP* (U/L)

32 (26–44)

23 (15–26)<0.001<80

Total-C (mg/dL)

179 ± 32

179 ± 310.966

120–219

Heavyweight

HDL-C (mg/dL)

48 ± 851 ± 6

0.220

40–85

LDL-C† (mg/dL)

105 ± 30

109 ± 24

0.581

≦140

TG* (mg/dL)

112 (75–165)

80 (66–110)

0.086

30–149UA (mg/dL)

6.9 ± 1.5

6.2 ± 1.0

0.048

3.8–7.0

FPG* (mg/dL)

85 (82–91)

80 (78–84)

0.012

70–1095.3 (4.4–6.5)

0.011

1.7–10.4

0.008

<2.50

Insulin* (μIU/mL) 8.4 (5.7–11.3)
HOMA-IR*1.72 (1.13–2.52) 1.02 (0.91–1.36)

Data were expressed as mean ± SD or median (inter quartile range). AST aspartate
aminotransferase, ALT alanine aminotransferase, γ-GTP γ-glutamyl transpeptidase,
Total-C total cholesterol, HDL-C high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, LDL-C lowdensity lipoprotein cholesterol, TG triglyceride, UA uric acid, FPG fasting
plasma glucose, HOMA-IR homeostasis model assessment insulin resistance,*Log-transformed variables for non-normally distributed variables (AST, ALT,
γ-GTP, TG, FPG, insulin, HOMA-IR) were used to analysis. †The low-density
lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) was calculated using the Friedewald equation. ‡Pvalue for difference between heavyweight and nonheavyweight groups wasassessed by unpaired t test. Significant differences, P < 0.05

Table 4 Comparison of blood biochemical parameters between
heavyweight Judo and football groups
Heavyweight (n = 41)

P value‡ Normal
range

Judo (n = 19)

Football (n = 22)

AST* (U/L)

28 (20–44)

30 (24–37)

0.856

10–40

ALT* (U/L)

36 (23–54)

40 (31–48)

0.872

5–45

γ-GTP* (U/L)

29 (23–43)

35 (28–47)

0.371

<80

Total-C (mg/dL)

174 ± 33

183 ± 310.373

120–219

HDL-C (mg/dL)

47 ± 849 ± 8

0.470

40–85

LDL-C† (mg/dL)

96 ± 35

112 ± 24

0.107

≦140

TG* (mg/dL)

135 (90–185)

103 (66–131)

0.107

30–149UA (mg/dL)

7.4 ± 1.3

6.4 ± 1.5

0.026

3.8–7.0

FPG* (mg/dL)

83 (79–90)

87 (83–91)

0.333

70–1097.7 (5.8–11.4)

0.707

1.7–10.4

0.631

<2.50

Insulin* (μIU/mL) 8.6 (4.9–11.7)
HOMA-IR*

1.99 (1.05–2.42) 1.58 (1.16–2.77)

Data were expressed as mean ± SD or median (inter quartile range). AST aspartate
aminotransferase, ALT alanine aminotransferase, γ-GTP γ- glutamyl transpeptidase,
Total-C total cholesterol, HDL-C high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, LDL-C lowdensity lipoprotein cholesterol, TG triglyceride, UA uric acid, FPG fasting
plasma glucose, HOMA-IR homeostasis model assessment insulin resistance;*Log-transformed variables for non-normally distributed variables (AST, ALT,
γ-GTP, TG, FPG, insulin, HOMA-IR) were used to analysis. †The low-density
lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) was calculated using the Friedewald equation. ‡Pvalue for difference between heavyweight Judo and Football groups wereassessed by unpaired t test. Significant differences, P < 0.05

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Discussion
This study examined the characteristics of body composition and cardiometabolic risk in heavyweight Judoathletes compared with heavyweight athletes in othersports. Our main finding in this study was that althoughheavyweight Judo athletes had higher body fat percentage and more fat mass, especially VF, their cardiometabolic risk in terms of blood biochemical parameters was
not significantly higher than that in heavyweight footballathletes. Mean BM of the heavyweight Judo group was
approximately 20 kg heavier, and mean body fat percentage was approximately 8 % higher than those of theheavyweight football group. Additionally, VF area of theheavyweight Judo group was about two times larger thanthat of the heavyweight football group (Table 2). Previous studies of non-athletes showed that cardiovasculardisease was associated with accumulation of excess VF[11, 12]. Therefore, we expected that the heavyweight
Judo group would have higher cardiometabolic risk compared with the heavyweight football group. However,most blood biochemical variables were not significantly
different between both heavyweight groups, except for
UA concentration (Table 4). It is difficult to explain why
the large fat mass of the heavyweight Judo group did notincrease their cardiometabolic risk such as lipid profile
and insulin relative to the heavyweight football groupfrom results of this study. However, simply having more
fat mass may not necessarily increase cardiometabolicrisk in athletes. Previous studies reported the existenceof metabolically healthy obese individuals, who have
low risk of cardiovascular disease and insulin resistance[13, 14]. For example, a follow-up study of metabolically healthy obese Italian individuals showed no increase in cardiovascular disease risk over 15 years [15].
Although the mechanism of metabolically healthy obesity is not clearly understood, it has been reported that
increased physical activity may offset the high risk ofcardiovascular disease in these individuals [16]. Additionally, another previous study reported that a highlevel of cardiorespiratory fitness was associated withlower prevalence of metabolic risk, even among obese
individuals [17]. The heavyweight Judo athletes in thisstudy participated in daily training for approximately
3 h including not only strength exercises but also a lotof high-intensity intermittent exercises which requirephysiological endurance. In fact, high-intensity intermittent exercise is a specific modality of Judo training[18]. Such training programs may help to increase their
physical activity level and cardiorespiratory fitness regardless of their heavy BM [19, 20]. Previous study
demonstrated that male heavyweight Judo athletes in
elite team have comparable aerobic capacity to professional defensive linemen as heavyweight football athletes [21, 22]. Therefore, Judo athletes may be similarlyMurata et al. Journal of Physiological Anthropology (2016) 35:10

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Nonheavyweight group70

Prevalence of cardiometabolic risk (%)

Heavyweight Football group*
58

Heavyweight Judo group

60
50

*
42

* *
36 37

40

32
30

27

26

21
18

20
12

14

10

5 5

0
AST

18

16

14
5

0

0

0

ALT

γ-GTP

HDL-C

18

6

LDL-C

6

6

TG

UA

HOMA IR

Fig. 1 Comparison of prevalence in cardiometabolic risk in terms of blood biochemical parameters. Prevalence of cardiometabolic risk presents
the percentage over the referenced normal range of respective parameters. The cut-off referenced normal range were as follows: AST < 40 (U/L),
ALT < 45 (U/L), γ-GTP ≧ 80 (U/L), HDL-C < 40 (mg/dL), LDL-C ≦ 140 (mg/dL), TG ≧ 150 (mg/dL), UA > 7.0 (mg/dL), HOMA-IR ≧ 2.5. *Significant
differences compared with Nonheavyweight group, P < 0.05

metabolically active as heavyweight football players,
and simply having more fat mass does not automatically increase cardiometabolic risk for athletes. At thesame time, those heavyweight athletes still have higher
risk of cardiometabolic risk compared to nonheavyweight athletes. Therefore, periodic biochemical tests toassess such risks are suggested to detect heavyweightathletes at high cardiometabolic risk. We should also
note that only UA concentration was higher in theheavyweight Judo group compared with in the heavyweight football group (Table 4). The high concentrationof UA is known to cause gout, and it has been reported
that VF is the most influential factor in UA concentration [23]. Therefore, the larger VF mass of the heavyweight Judo athletes may have increased their UA
concentration. At the same time, it has been reported
that UA metabolism is influenced by both dietary intake and physical exercise [24]. High intake of meatand fish is known to be the dietary cause of increase inblood UA level. Heavyweight Judo athletes in this study
may have a high intake of meat products to increase
their energy and protein intake to gain BM as muscle
mass. Moreover, high-intensity intermittent exercise increase hypoxanthine and UA metabolism [25]. Therefore, it is possible that diet and exercise may influence
the UA level of heavyweight Judo athletes besides
their large VF mass. However, diet and exercise were
not assessed in this study. Therefore, further study toevaluate the influence of diet and/or exercise on cardiometabolic risk, including UA concentration, will
help to elucidate the development of risk in heavyweight athletes.
The prevalence of abnormally high UA and TG levels
was higher in the heavyweight Judo group comparedwith those in the nonheavyweight group (Fig. 1), eventhough mean UA and TG levels in the heavyweight Judogroup were within or close to the reference normal
range (Table 4). In other words, there are several heavyweight Judo athletes in this study who had abnormallyhigh levels of UA and/or TG, but most of the heavyweight athletes were within its normal ranges by observing the individual results. Those athletes with higher UA
and/or TG level did not necessarily carry more fat massor VF mass. Additionally, there were no other anthropometric parameters commonly found in those who had
abnormal blood biochemical parameters among Judoathletes. Therefore, athletes with increased cardiometabolic risk may be influenced by other factors such as
genetic factors [26, 27], dietary habits [28, 29], orother lifestyle factors commonly related with cardiometabolic risks.
The present study has a few limitations. Firstly, thisstudy design was a cross-sectional study, and thus, it isdifficult to determine the cause and effect relationship in
this study. Furthermore, larger sample sizes, prospective
and interventional studies, are required to investigate
the physiological mechanism of decreasing cardiometabolic risk in heavyweight Judo athletes despite theirexcessive fat mass.

Conclusion
Cardiometabolic risk in Japanese male heavyweight Judoathletes was not significantly higher compared withother heavyweight athletes, even though they had higher
fat mass such as VF. Therefore, excessive fat accumulation may not necessarily increase cardiometabolic riskfor heavyweight Judo athletes.

Murata et al. Journal of Physiological Anthropology (2016) 35:10

Abbreviations
ALT: alanine aminotransferase; AST: aspartate aminotransferase; BM: bodymass; BMI: body mass index; DXA: dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry;
FFM: fat-free mass; HDL-C: high-density lipoprotein cholesterol; HOMAIR: homeostasis model assessment insulin resistance; LDL-C: low-density
lipoprotein cholesterol; MRI: magnetic resonance imaging; SF: subcutaneousfat; TG: triglyceride; UA: uric acid; VF: visceral fat; γ-GTP: γ-glutamyltranspeptidase.
Competing interests
The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
Authors’ contributions
MH, MT, and HM contributed to the conception and design. MT and HM
collected the funds. SO, HM, and ST carried out the measurement. HM, SO, andMH analyzed and interpreted the data. HM and SO drafted the manuscript. MH
revised the manuscript critically. All authors have given final approval.
Acknowledgement
This study was supported by the Waseda University Global Centre of
Excellence Program, Sport Sciences for the Promotion of Active Life.
Author details
Faculty of Sport Sciences, Waseda University, 2-579-15 Mikajima,
Tokorozawa-shi, Saitama 359-1192, Japan. 2Graduate school of Sport
Sciences, Waseda University, 112 Frontier Reseach Center 135-1 Horinouchi,
Tokorozawa-shi, Saitama 359-1192, Japan.
1

Received: 28 January 2016 Accepted: 30 March 2016

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