Body Fat tester

joejoem

Where does one get one? I cant belive my gym doesnt have one but anyway

Easygainer

Most methods are very flawed. Best bet is to take pics and compare as the weeks go by. Granted you can't say for definite I am x% bf but it's better than thinking you are 12% bodyfat when you still have love handles and the test is therefore clearly flawed. LLC (loughlinstown gym) does an OK one for E8, just ask Mark to do it though.

Running Bing

Ive seen scales in the argos catalogue that claim to be body fat calculators. How do these work? How can a scale measure bodyfat?

formatman

soemthing to do with the restistance of fat vs water as regards electrical current ..the scales pass a small current through your body ( untraceable amounts etc ) and measure the resistance on its return



not to be used by people with pacemakers etc !

county

if your fat your fat,you dont need a tester just a mirror

incisor71

Babybing wrote:

Ive seen scales in the argos catalogue that claim to be body fat calculators. How do these work? How can a scale measure bodyfat?

I don't know if there's any definitively accurate measure of body fat by any one method. The reading from those scales operating on bio-electrical impedance can be skewed (downwards) if you drink a lot of water prior to the test. The skinfold caliper method is prone to measurement error due to the small scale graduations involved, but I'd be more likely to trust its reading.

Probably the best thing is to use both methods, and if things are going well both the readings will drop with time.

Just as an example, the handheld body fat meter that my gym uses, where you grip two handles with electrodes, gave a reading of 29.2%. Beeeeeeeg shock (no pun intended)!! However, on my first visit to the personal trainer a month ago he said "just looking at you, I'd say you're around 17%". He wasn't far wrong, as it turned out that the body fat scales read 19% and the skinfold calipers 22%.

If this means that you're all laughing at me now that I've divulged my wobbly status, I forgive ye! All I can say is that the gruelling level of academic work needed to gain a H1 master's degree last year took a major toll on my health - but I'm recovering rapidly.

joejoem

Cheers for the advice lads, yeadh I would put my body fat at around 11%/11.5% but I want to aim for 9% and have a tester so I can keep it at that and monitor my weight. I find the scale inaccurate since am training regurally and gaining muscle.