ABSTRACT
A classic approach that led to today’s com monly used method, was introduced by Sheldon et al. (1940). Their most important contribution to the fi eld lies in the combination of the basic ideas of two other methods. The fi rst was Kretschmer’s (1921) classifi - cation, with three empirically determined and visually rated extremes of body build, with each subject being an amalgam of the three ‘poles.’ The second was the analytical, anthropometrically determined body-build
assessment of Viola (1933), in which the ratio of trunk and limb measures and thoracic and abdominal trunk values are expressed proportionate to a ‘normotype.’ In Sheldon’s method an attempt is made to describe the genotypical morphological traits of a person in terms of three components, each on a 7-point scale. This genotypic approach, the rigidity of the closed 7-point ratings and a lack of objectivity of the ratings, made the method unattractive to most researchers, especially in the fi eld of kinanthropometry.
