Calculating bodyfat?

Beau

Hey,

I want to get an accuarte calculation of my bodyfat. I use those machines in the pharmacy, my most recent one was 27%. To me that just seems massive, admitedley I have gone out of shape a fair bit since I was hitting it hard in the gym and rugby before Christmas.

I wouldn't consider myself fat but with that percentage, I would! Judge for yourself http://bodyspace.bodybuilding.com/Finlay2/

So what does those per centages mean? All I know is if that getting it down to 12% would be a great achievement.

Transform

oh jesus not again

celestial

Transform wrote: »

oh jesus not again

haha:D

someone get a sticky up there quick smart.....

Beau

**** one, ill have a search so...

Hanley

The machines that you stand on are sh!te. Complete and utter sh!te. Worthless. A glass of water, or holding in your pee is gonna effect the readings off them.

The best method available to most people are calipers. They pinch and measure skinfolds at various points around your body and are inputted into a formula to give you your bf%. BUT depending on the forumla you'll get a different % even using the same measurements.

Tbh, the best option is just to track the mm reading on calipers and not worry about the actual percentages. It's much simpler, if they go up, so has your bodyfat. If they go down, so has your bodyfat.

flywheel

The best method available to most people are calipers...

as long as you find someone who is skilled at using calipers, and more importantly who is skilled at being consistent in their measurements... a challenge in itself

good point about the % reading though... e.g. in the 20-29 age group a 20m skinfold calculation can indicate 8% BF, simply moving into the 30-39 age group it jumps to 12% - one more happy thought for anyone approaching the big 30, automatically add 4% BF :eek:

Money Shot

DubWireless wrote: »

good point about the % reading though... e.g. in the 20-29 age group a 20m skinfold calculation can indicate 8% BF, simply moving into the 30-39 age group it jumps to 12% - one more happy thought for anyone approaching the big 30, automatically add 4% BF :eek:

What's the logic behind this, doesn't make sense to me. If anything, I would have thought the % would come down, all other things being equal if you just increased age ??

g'em

Money Shot wrote: »

What's the logic behind this, doesn't make sense to me. If anything, I would have thought the % would come down, all other things being equal if you just increased age ??

Muscle mass naturally declines with age, so on a total body mass scale an equal reading of fat in mm would indicate a higher overall % of bodyfat. For each decade after the age of 25, 3-5 % of muscle mass is lost. Heartwarming eh?

Racing Flat

g'em wrote: »

Muscle mass naturally declines with age, so on a total body mass scale an equal reading of fat in mm would indicate a higher overall % of bodyfat. For each decade after the age of 25, 3-5 % of muscle mass is lost. Heartwarming eh?

And I suppose with any measuring system you have to have cut-offs, so even though this will happen gradually, by virtue of the measuring system your BF% will increase instantaneously at midnight on your 30th birthday.

g'em

Racing Flat wrote: »

by virtue of the measuring system your BF% will increase instantaneously at midnight on your 30th birthday.

Yup, it all starts to go downhill on an incrementally sliding scale once you hit the big 3-0

All the measuring systems are guides really, and there's a +/- 5% or so no matter what method you use. Using the caliper measurements as simple readings is just as effective for measuring progress (if not total bodyfat). If the mm go down, it's going in the right direction.

flywheel

well it was the idea that on your birthday you could gain 4% BF that I was making the point about

sure for simplicity and to allow some scale to be developed you need cut off points and general guides, but it is good to highlight these situations to show how they work and that they are general guides...

-

so for anyone getting one done the actual measurement takes some skill, and consistency takes even more - be sure it is with someone who knows what they are doing, and they are taking steps to be consistent for next time so you get a true picture of progress...

Racing Flat

I think people get a bit het up with measuring these things, BF% weight etc. but when you are in good shape, you know you are, you can see it in the mirror and poeple tell you. But mostly you knwo you are, you don't have to ask. If you need a BF% or weight reading to tell you, you're probably not in the shape you want to be in.

bwardrop

I'll put together a thread on body composition analysis next week that may be worthy of stickiness...

g'em

Good stuff, add it to this thread.

flywheel

Racing Flat wrote: »

I think people get a bit het up with measuring these things, BF% weight etc. but when you are in good shape, you know you are, you can see it in the mirror and poeple tell you. But mostly you knwo you are, you don't have to ask. If you need a BF% or weight reading to tell you, you're probably not in the shape you want to be in.

for some, consistent measurements over time can be a great motivator, things like waist to hip ratio measurements etc, rather than just simple body weight scale readings tho...

i'm generally in the shape i'd like to be in (always room for improvement), but i like to get the skinfold test done regularly enough, it's a consistant way for me to measure how effective a routine / nutrition plan has been for my body composition

Beau

Yeh I just would like to have some sort of measurement to show any progress I'm getting. I don't have access to people who are trained to use those calipers so I'm going to use the calculation they give on http://www.davedraper.com/bodyfat-calculation.html. i'm going to use this as my most accuarte way of measuring it.

My BF% is 21.15 according to that. Obviosuly thats not great but I'll be happy enough if I can bring that down to below 20% consistently before pre season starts and once it gets going I'd want to start getting that down below 15%.

P.S. - I was thinking of buying L Glutmanine of Nutrition X once the season starts to help repair, should I bother?

Transform

yes i am a huge fan of glutamine - 15-20g/day but not unless rest of diet is right which at 20% body fat a have my doubts it is.

I personally think you can get to below 15% within about 6-8 weeks with a really good diet and the right training i.e. not no cardio and then using a split program because your 'bulking'. You will have farrrrrrrrr better performance at a 10% body fat than 20%

At the moment you just look flat and out of shape to be honest

Beau

Transform wrote: »

yes i am a huge fan of glutamine - 15-20g/day but not unless rest of diet is right which at 20% body fat a have my doubts it is.

I personally think you can get to below 15% within about 6-8 weeks with a really good diet and the right training i.e. not no cardio and then using a split program because your 'bulking'. You will have farrrrrrrrr better performance at a 10% body fat than 20%

At the moment you just look flat and out of shape to be honest

Good man thanks for that.

Why no glutamine without a perfect diet?

I'm on a good splt bulking program at the moment. I wan't bothered with cardio tho at the moment, I was just going to leave that till we are ran ragged at pre season. How much cardio should I be doing do you reckon at the mo? I'm cycling 14kms to and from work. Thought this would be enough.

I think I just need to cut out the snacks and the one bad dinner a week that I'm inclined for.

Hanley

Beau wrote: »

Good man thanks for that.

Why no glutamine without a perfect diet

Cos there's a million and one other things that are more important!!

I'm on a good splt bulking program at the moment. I wan't bothered with cardio tho at the moment, I was just going to leave that till we are ran ragged at pre season. How much cardio should I be doing do you reckon at the mo? I'm cycling 14kms to and from work. Thought this would be enough.

I think I just need to cut out the snacks and the one bad dinner a week that I'm inclined for.

Is it really a good idea to leave all interval type cardio work out considering your play a sport where it's an important component? Could you not do some extra conditioning during the summer to at least keep yourself in decent shape for pre-season?