Measuring Your Body Fat

Authored By Derek Beech

You have probably heard of the popular Body Mass Indexing system
or BMI as most people call it. BMI uses the relationship between
your weight and height in order to measure your overall health.
Basically short and fat means a high BMI while tall and thin
translates into a low BMI.

Body Mass Indexing is supposed to tell you if you are normal,
overweight, or obese, with high BMI's being linked to cancer,
heart disease, diabetes and high blood pressure.

While having a high BMI may be something to be concerned about
if you are an average run of the mill couch potato. An athlete
or bodybuilders results are going to be misleading because Body
Mass Indexing does not take into account everybody's specific
body composition.

Body composition being a comparison between your lean body mass
(muscles, bones and organs) and your fat mass.

For example;
Recently I needed to find out what my body composition was in
order to begin preparing for my next bodybuilding contest. It
turned out that I weighed in at 195 lbs with a 12% body fat level.

12% as you will see below is quite healthy, but being only 5 feet
11 inches tall, according to the Body Mass Indexing system, I am
considered overweight. The BMI system measures height versus
weight without taking into account how much of that weight is
muscle and how much of it is fat.

So how do we measure our exact body composition and avoid the
erroneous and out of date BMI system? Well there are several
different methods which are available to test your body fat level.

Body Composition Tests
------------------------------

1. DEXA ( Dual Energy X-Ray Absoptimetry)
2. Near – Infrared Interactance
3. Hydrostatic Weighing
4. BOD POD
5. BIA (Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis)
6. Skin Fold Calipers

The two body fat tests which can be conducted in the privacy of
your own home are BIA and the Skin Fold test. The other ones
tend to be too expensive and inconvenient for most people.

A BIA will measure your body fat by sending a low level
electrical current through your body and because muscle conducts
electricity whereas fat does not, the machine is then able to
give you a body fat reading. Be careful though if you decide to
use one of these items. The formula that this machine uses is
partly based on your body's water balance. In general, humans
are composed of about the same percentage of water but if your
body is holding more or has less water than "average" your
results will be inaccurate.

Skin fold calipers are one of the most cost efficient and
effective ways to measure body fat. A skin fold caliper is
used to measure the amount of fat between your skin and muscle.
When using skin fold calipers measurements are calculated in
millimeters and then a formula is used to calculate that into
your body fat percent. You will need to go somewhere that does
skin fold tests, most gyms do, or purchase your own. I recommend
purchasing your own set. There are many different types of
calipers available, in a wide range of prices. However the set I
have at home only cost me about $20 and they work just as well
as the more expensive ones I have seen out there.

You can purchase calipers here
http://fitness-etcetra.com/

How To Do A Skin Fold Test
------------------------------------

1.Always do your skin fold tests on the right side of your body.
2.Conduct the test directly on your body and not with clothes
in the way.
3.While standing you must first find the 4 locations which you
need to test (below).
4.Firmly pinch the skin fold between your left index finger
and your thumb.
5.Pull the skin fold and underlying fat away from your body.
6.Using the calipers in your right hand, pinch the skin fold
about a ¼ of an inch away from your thumb and finger.
7.Test the same spot 3 times. If you get the same reading each
time then you are doing it properly, if your readings are slightly
different, take the average of all 3, and if they are really
different, then practice until you're numbers are close together.
8.Record these numbers in a book and use the following formula
to figure out your body fat level once you are done.

Body Fat Percentage Formula
-------------------------------------

MEN
[0.29288 X (sum of all 4 skin folds)] – [0.0005 X (sum of all 4
skin folds)] + [0.15845 X age] – 5.76377 = Body Fat %

WOMEN
[0.29669 X (sum of all 4 skin folds0] – [0.00043 X (sum of all 4
skin folds)] + [0.02963 X age] + 1.407 = Body Fat %

AVERAGE BODY FAT LEVELS FOR MEN & WOMEN
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Age Men Women
----- -------- ----------

16 – 20 14 – 20 24 - 29
21-25 16 – 21 25 - 30
26-30 17 – 22 26 - 31
31-35 19 – 24 27 - 32
36-40 21 – 26 28 - 33
41-45 22 – 27 29 - 34
46-50 23 – 28 30 - 35
51-55 26 – 29 31 - 36
56+ 27 – 30 32 - 37

Remember, these are just averages. A typical bodybuilder
will keep their body fat levels below average. I tend to get
my body fat level down to between 3 and 6 % for my contests.
Most women I know come into their contests at around 8 or 9%.
Anything over and above these averages is considered being too
fat.

The 4 Locations You Need To Test
-------------------------------------------

1.The Umbilicus (stomach) – 1 inch to the right of your
Belly button, pinch a vertical skin fold.

2.The Suprailiac (love handle) – 1 inch straight up from your
hip bone, pinch a diagonal skin fold so that the fold points down
towards your left knee.

3.The Triceps – half way between the shoulder and elbow joint,
in the middle of your arm, pinch a vertical skin fold (you will
need someone to do this one for you).

4.The Thigh – half way between your knee and your hip bone,
on the outside thigh pinch a vertical skin fold.

Being able to test your body fat level on a regular basis will
allow you to know if your fitness efforts are really paying off
or not. Whereas just standing on a scale can be deceiving. You
may have lost 10 lbs, but was that 10 lbs fat or muscle? A scale
can't tell you this, nor can it tell you that you're becoming
more muscular even though you may be staying the same weight.

Any successful bodybuilder relies on taking a body fat test to
Measure their bodies progress more than they do jumping on a
scale.

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