ABSTRACT
The relative body mass (RBM) is one of the major characteristics of physical development of the person and represents scientific interest for anthropometry, biomechanics, nutrition, sports and medicine. However the receipt of knowledge on determinants of its variability during growth and maturation in the adolescent period and development of algorithms on application of the given parameter in medicine and sports is limited to the presence of a suitable tool. The weight/height2 index of body mass or body mass index (BMI), which has received the greatest dissemination, is considered basically for an epidemiological estimation of fatness independently of a person’s age. Nevertheless, BMI correlations with height, individual distinctions on rates and phases of maturing in the teenage period cause additional anxiety of interpretation of BMI (Malina, 1999). We have proved theoretically the expediency of the development of an adolescent body mass index (ABMI) as RBM indicator on the basis of an experimental model of body weight change during growth in the pubertal period.
