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accurate BF% Help
- Thread starter GawdsGift
- Start date
THEEGAME2544
New member
Expensive calipers are fairly accurate. A pretty accurate measure is to take the average of three measurements from three points on the biceps, triceps, chest, lower stomach, and inside leg. Of course it's not 100% accurate, but much more so than many other measurements.
I dont know where your located but these mobile units come around a couple of times a year to my gym.
http://www.getdunked.com
http://www.getdunked.com
here is a link to a site where you can plug in your skinfold measurements. it uses a 4 site method but there is a link from the site that brings up a 6 site as well. all you need is calipers. get the best ones you can afford, they will last for years and years.
http://www.brianmac.demon.co.uk/fatcent.htm
http://www.brianmac.demon.co.uk/fatcent.htm
Skinfolds testing is very inaccurate. They give you a +/- 3.5% error if you do the test 100% CORRECT. It is very arbitrary to both the tester, and the skin type of the person being tested. Let's say a bad tester or tight skin throws you off 2% and then you add another 3% error. That's the difference between being 7% and 12%. Not very accurate in my book. The most accurate is a new machine similar to a CAT Scan that is .5% error and can also measure other things such as bone density. Hydrostatic weighing in another decent option if you can get to a testing facility.
Best way to find out with a reasonable amount of accuracy is a hydrostatic weigh. The scan which I believe is a DMZ or DMT scan is quite expensive but to date is the only truly accurate way of measuring. Hopefully someday it will be the standard for measurement and will be a lot cheaper. Just think, a Tri-Form machine costs tens of thousands of dollars but you can get a scan for 30 bucks.
Clean
New member
Calipers are I guess the most effective way for being so easy to access. As for the hydrostatic, definitely better, but calipers are next best thing, and usually a decent way to tell. Some of the calipers are expensive compared to others, but you can just go to a facility that has them and they will do the tests and will most likely be a little more accurate than if you were to do it.
Get one of the Tanita bodyfat scales. I bought one last week. The weight measurement is only off 9 pounds as compared to my doctor's scale. My usual morning reading is between 19 and 25% bodyfat with some strange readings at higher values that happen about one out of every four times. Just after eating chinese food this afternoon, it told me my bodyfat was 74%. According to a guess from my great-niece that dunks people to measure their bodyfat as a job as a grad assistant, she thinks I'm about 15%. Plus or minus 60% isn't too bad. Get the Tanita. I know I enjoyed wasting $60 on it.
Clean
New member
bseemba2001
New member
I have the body fat scale and it is not accurate at all. The way I understand it operation is it measures the electrical impedance of your body and it determines the body fat based on impedance. You should only use the scale as a relative measure. Calipers are much batter, but the best way is the underwater weight test (I do not know exactly how it works, but I do know that it is very accurate).
I would be very interested to hear others opinion on the underwater BF test and how it works.
P.S. Karma would be appreciated
I would be very interested to hear others opinion on the underwater BF test and how it works.
P.S. Karma would be appreciated
S
satchboogie
Guest
bump for my main man gawdsgift.
Calipers, skin fold testing, Tanita scales, all are not accurate. Find a nutritionist and get your body composition done on a BIA machine. Very very very very accurate. I own one here, the results are unparelle to the Calipers or any crazy math formula. Best of luck..
zoom, bseemba..........the electronic scale is accurate but you have to help it to be. if you went to a university or anyplace they did "real" electrical impedance testing, you would note that they attach the electrodes to one of your hands and one of your feet. the electricity flows in through one and out through the other. on the big machines, you get a true measure of where you are bodyfat wise. moreover, the measurement is taken in the morning, after voiding, before any intake and before you have been up walkijng around a whole lot so the fluid is spread out in your body. the test is totally related to how much water is in your body. you could take a measurement, drink a bunch of water and get a different measurement. the reason i dont believe in them is because they do not measure your whole body. as i said before , the current goes in one hand (foot) and out the other hand (foot) depending on whether you have the kind you stand on or the one you hold in two hands. this would effectively measure either the fat between your two hands or whatever you have on the path between your two feet. (i can hear the jokes about that already) if you are just tracking your bodyfat, like wondering if its trending up or down, these work fine but over all, a good set of calipers is hard to beat. just make sure all measurements are done at the same time of day, usually morning and before you eat or drink.
