In this research article, the author presents the results of a new study conducted by him, thematically devoted to the issue of studying the reliability and informativeness of values, a number of markers/medical and biological indicators, actively used to determine the processes of masculinization in female athletes, in particular those of mature (reproductive) age, who are professionally, intensively and long-term engaged in weightlifting.

In modern women's elite sports, it is increasingly common for women of all ages to participate in a range of sports previously considered primarily male. These include women's weightlifting. Unfortunately, the process of adaptation and masculinization of female athletes, as well as the impact of these long-term, intense workouts on their bodies, organs, and systems, remains an understudied issue. Research into this problem requires identifying clear criteria for determining the masculinization processes occurring in female athletes and identifying morpho functional index values ​​as reliable and easily applied markers of masculinization for practical study [1-7]. The author's study is an attempt to obtain new data on this issue, with subsequent practical application of the results.

The purpose of the study conducted by the author and the writing of this research article based on the results obtained is to present a critical analysis of the results of the study conducted by the author to identify indicators, a number of masculinization markers, their reliability and informativeness, for further study and practical application of the identified medical and biological changes in female athletes of mature (reproductive) age who are professionally involved in weightlifting. 

The author of the presented article, at the very beginning of the conducted research, put forward a working hypothesis that in female athletes of different age groups, including athletes of the first reproductive/mature age, who have been actively involved in such a traditionally male sport as weightlifting for a long time, processes of masculinization of their body may actively occur, with progressive changes in their sexual somatotype, which can be reliably identified using a number of masculinization markers, including a number of morphofunctional, index values.

In conducting this study, the author actively used a number of research methods, in particular literary-critical analysis of available materials, such as articles in specialized research journals, in scientific and scientific-methodological literature, on the issue under study. This study was conducted by the author in previous (pre-war) years, involving 17 female athletes of mature (reproductive) age from a number of Ukrainian sports clubs who had been professionally, intensively, and long-term in weightlifting. Their athletic skill level ranged from Candidate Master of Sport to Master of Sport. During this study, anthropometric indicators such as body length, body weight, shoulder width (interacromial diameter), and pelvic width (intercrestal diameter) were determined. For this purpose, anthropometry and pelvimetry were performed using classical methods. Based on the results of the anthropometry, a number of morpho functional index values ​​were calculated, such as: the sexual dimorphism index (SDI); body mass index (BMI); andromorphy index (AI), masculinization index (MI), relative pelvic width index (RPWI), or morphological index for women, and the pelvic-brachial index (PBI) [1-7]. All female athletes who took part in the study conducted by the author gave their voluntary consent, both verbal and written. 

The analysis of the obtained results showed that the average age of the female athletes in the study group was 24.46±1.06 years. The body length of the female athletes was - 172.86±0.59 cm; body weight - 74.87±0.47 kg, body mass index (BMI) was -24.86±0.12 kg/cm², which corresponds to the normal BMI values ​​for girls of this age group [2, 4-7]. The shoulder width measurements were 40.69±0.53 cm, and d. cristarum (pelvic width) - 27.14±0.53 cm, with the norm for this transverse dimension of the bony pelvis equal to 28-29 cm [1, 4-7]. The average value of d. in the group. The intertrochanteric size (intertrochanteric dimension), in cm, was 30.28±0.84 cm, with the normal value of this indicator being 31-32 cm [2, 4-7]. These data indicate that the girls in the group have broad shoulders and narrow pelvises [2, 4-7]. The value of the pelvic-humeral index (PHI), according to the methodology proposed by E.N. Khrisanfova (2002), confirms this. This indicator is defined as a mathematical percentage value obtained by dividing the value of d. cristarum (pelvic width size) by the body length indicator, in cm [2, 4-7]. This allows us to judge the body shape of the athlete being studied [2, 4-7].

In the study group, the value of this morphofunctional index was 62.71±0.11, which corresponds to a trapezoidal body shape, according to the masculine type - broad shoulders and a narrow pelvis. When determining the masculinization index, which is a derivative of the result of dividing the biacromial diameter (shoulder width), in cm, by the value of d. trochanterica (intertrochanteric size), in cm, it was found that the average value of this morphofunctional index in the group was 1.32, while in the population it can range from 1.15 to 1.23. Its results, indirectly, indicate a reliable steroid balance (the ratio of estrogen and androgen saturation) of the body of female athletes [2, 4-7]. The obtained value, in correlation with other obtained morphofunctional index values, indicates the ongoing processes of masculinization and hyperandrogenism in these female athletes. When determining the values ​​of the relative pelvic width index (RPWI), or morphia index, for women, its value was obtained - 15.95 ± 0.13 cm, which corresponds to the values ​​of stenopyelitis, or narrow pelvis [2, 4-7]. The value of the relative pelvic width index (RPWI) was determined by us using the formula as a % ratio of the pelvic width (PW) - d. cristarum, cm, divided by the body length, cm. The average value of such a marker as the andromorphia index (AI) in the study group was - 63.75, which corresponds to the indicators of the hypergynoid type, with reduced values ​​​​of estrogen saturation and hyperandrogenism [2, 4-7]. When determining the values ​​of the sexual dimorphism index (SDI) using the method of J. Tanner and W. Marshall and somatotyping conducted using their formula, it has the following indicators: values ​​less than 73.1 – gynecomorphic sexual somatotype; from 73.1 to 82.1 – transitional mesomorphic sexual somatotype (sex dysplasia); indicators from 82.1 and above – pathological, inverse, andromorphic sexual somatotype [2, 4-7]. It was also found that the average SDI value in the group of female athletes studied was 95.99±0.12, which corresponds, after somatotyping, to a pronounced andromorphic sexual somatotype that is pathological for women [1-3, 5, 7].

After analyzing the SDI values ​​in the group, it was found that the gynecomorphic sexual somatotype is completely absent, and the mesomorphic (transitional) sexual somatotype is present only in 2 (11.76%) athletes professionally involved in weightlifting.

This concludes the author’s latest research article, devoted to the issues of studying a number of medical and biological indicators, actively used by researchers studying the issues of morphofunctional changes occurring in the bodies of female athletes of different age groups, who intensively, often professionally, participate in many sports, including the so-called “originally male” sports.

1. All anthropometric and pelvimetric research methods used by the author during the study, as well as morphofunctional index values, which are markers for determining masculinization processes in female athletes, have demonstrated their reliability, validity, and effectiveness, and can be actively used in sports morphology by other researchers when determining medical and biological processes in female athletes. 
2. This study, using a set of applied markers of masculinization in female athletes, convincingly confirmed that long-term and intense weightlifting training sometimes leads to significant adaptive somatic changes in the body of female athletes, towards a negative shift – towards mesomorphic and, even, the opposite for women, andromorphic sexual somatotypes, which is an active process of their masculinization. 
3. The results obtained from the study conducted by the author fully and reliably confirm the hypothesis put forward by the author, proposed by him at the very beginning of his study.