Body Fat

I always wonder about the impedance scales. Is it just one of those "perceived wisdoms" of bodybuilding that they are crap? Obviously your hydration levels etc may alter during a day and you will get some variation, but if you measured first thing in morning after youve been to the toilet would they not be fairly accurate? Also I would think that rather than the exact number its the trend that is really important. so if over months the impedance scales show your %bf dropping then I'm sure it is doing so.

I may try and find some decent research comparing them, as I suspect they're nowhere near as bad as people make them out to be.
 
heeeed said:
I always wonder about the impedance scales. Is it just one of those "perceived wisdoms" of bodybuilding that they are crap? Obviously your hydration levels etc may alter during a day and you will get some variation, but if you measured first thing in morning after youve been to the toilet would they not be fairly accurate? Also I would think that rather than the exact number its the trend that is really important. so if over months the impedance scales show your %bf dropping then I'm sure it is doing so.

I may try and find some decent research comparing them, as I suspect they're nowhere near as bad as people make them out to be.
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The last time i had a caliper test was over 18 months ago, but it came out at 17/18%ish, the impedence scales in boots (on same day) had put me at 32%.
 
I work at a uni and quite often help out the Sports Science dept. as a guinea pig for some of their experiments. One was looking into this, and with the calipers I was showing up as an average of 10.35% fat. The scales averaged me out at about 20%.

Quite a difference.
 
I just don't see how they can be THAT far out and still anywhere bother with them tbh. if we're talking 10% + difference it's huge. surely nobody would ever use them. a few anomolies I can believe in, but 10% is as much as just picking a random number. would you consistantly get 20% on scales? and are you really 10% ie very skinny, because it just seems to be there would be a lot more user error in calipers. I could grab skin folds in several different ways and get a different reading. I remember as a student having to use them in physiology practicals and people did get vastly different readings with calipers. I think I'm going to have to either do some research or get hold of some scales and compare to the calipers at work. hmmm whats the chances of the girls at work letting me do this research? slim to none I think
 
heeeed said:
I just don't see how they can be THAT far out and still anywhere bother with them tbh. if we're talking 10% + difference it's huge. surely nobody would ever use them. a few anomolies I can believe in, but 10% is as much as just picking a random number.
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The last time I used them it told me 24% or so - I'm confident I'm about half that. Got a free physical in a month or so and apparently that includes the ol calipers so I can report back then...(best get cutting).
 
It's fair to say that when I was checked for that experiment I wasn't carrying much fat on me. Regular martial arts training kept the fat off, and though I wasn't carrying much muscle either, the 10% figure was much closer to the mark. The figure was also an average - something which is pretty important when using calipers. You shouldn't just take the first reading, you need at least 3 samples at each site. The other thing is - these people who were doing the sampling were pretty well qualified in the field. I'm not talking your average Joe Bloggs taking samples, heh! :)
 
The scales say 11% for me, and I am carrying a bit of weight because I've been a lazy **** for a couple of months.

Are you telling me that I'm actually 5%? Surely not :\
 
The calipers are the best way to go about it, aside from hydrostatic weighing (gold standard, with a price to match). The electrical impodence ones aren't accurate when you get below 10% body fat. They give me random readings when I try it now... Got 4% once with them. :p Calipers put me at 8.5%, which was a lot more accurate.
 
the scales you get, most have programable stats to put in which use different calculations. Most cheap models don't cater to athletic builds and are fairly useless if you are very lean, better models where you can program in your height, age, and which body group you fall into will give you a better idea. But frankly as said, knowing your body fat percentage does very very very little for you. Knowing its changing, good or bad, is what you need and they work fine for that as long as you use your nonce.

if you're on a low carb diet/no carb for cutting then you'll be dropping a lot of water weight. this will make the machines think you have a lot higher BF% than you might really have(not completely strictly true, eat carbs, weight goes up, bf% goes down but when you work out before and after you might get same weight of body fat). If you do eat carbs and drink lots of water, your weight should go up and BF can change not exactly in the proportion you think, but as long as you remember to weigh yourself under the same conditions, or expect changes with diet change they can and will tell you when BF goes up or down.

Everyone has slightly different way of storing fat, some more around certain area's, so its not like you can get the most accurate BF reading and say you only need to lose 3.25% more BF for your abs to show. So an accurate reading just isn't needed. Not sure calipers are "that" accurate either, but again will show any obvious change in BF, are cheap and easy.
 
Hmm - that's interesting about the scales. I've only had BF% measured by bioelectrical impedance. I started at 37% and am now down to about 31% after fairly regular gym attendance since about August or September. Still got a belly on me though and I'm clearly still carrying too much fat.

I've been wondering about the accuracy of the scales though, as 31% still has me as obese for a bloke. Despite the flab I'm starting to get some reasonable looking muscle definition on legs, arms and pecs. Might be an idea to check using a different method at some point.
 
The scales are rubbish at working it out - just like BMI is a rubbish measurement if you're a bodybuilder. I weigh 215lbs, and have for my size very low Bf - around 13% or so. The scales put me up at 26% which of course is preposterous - considering the definition I have at 26% you couldn't even see a muscle group let alone individual abdominals! Calipers are the best way of doing it, but they have to be done by someone who knows how to use them.
 
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