Body Morphology and Anthropometry

Body morphology describes an athlete's overall shape and proportions, and anthropometry is the standardised measurement of the body's dimensions.

Together they describe how an athlete is built and how that build interacts with the demands of a sport. This page treats morphology as a structural and biomechanical subject: somatotype, segment lengths, proportions and static alignment, and how these relate to lever arms, technique and equipment fit. It is deliberately not a weight or physique page.

Measurements here describe structure; they are not targets. Using anthropometry to set weight or body shape goals, particularly in young athletes, carries real risk and is linked to disordered eating and relative energy deficiency in sport (REDs), covered in their own topics.