#3 site skinfold body fat calculator how to#
#3 site skinfold body fat calculator skin#

3D Body Scan: A new, emerging technology that is becoming more readily available are three-dimensional (3D) body scans.

It is roughly similar in terms of accuracy as hydrostatic weighing (hydrostatic weighing is slightly more accurate) but is substantially cheaper and easier to perform. However, instead of displacing water, this method displaces air.

Air-Displacement Plethysmography: Air-displacement plethysmography utilizes a similar principle as hydrostatic weighing, displacement.

Research grade devices can have error rates as low as 5%. However, many of the low-cost commercial models are imprecise with large error rates (greater than 10%). This method is very readily available as it can be put into handheld devices and even at home digital weight scales.

Bioelectrical Impedance: Bioelectrical impedance analysis, often referred to as BIA, utilizes electrical currents to assess body composition based on how electrical currents flow through the body.

For most people, this form of body composition assessment is impractical. However, this approach is expensive and requires very specialized equipment and training.

Hydrostatic Weighing: Hydrostatic weighing, also known as underwater weighing, is one of the more accurate forms of body composition assessment with error rates being between 2-5% for most apparatuses.

Interestingly, waist to weight ratio appears to be the most accurate (Dong et al., 2018). There are good data to show how well different measures correlate to body fat percentages. More specifically things such as waist-to-hip ratios, waist-to-height ratios, and neck circumferences are ways to estimate body composition.

Body Circumference: Another very accessible and easy to perform method of estimating body composition is through measuring body circumference.

As such, it is difficult to be certain of changes of <5% of body fat.

While easy to perform, this method requires a substantial amount of training and has a pretty high error rate, with up to 10-15% error rates reported in some studies.

#3 site skinfold body fat calculator skin#

This method relies on precisely built and calibrated calipers that measure skin thickness in millimeters.

This layer is known as the subcutaneous fat layer. Skinfold Calipers: One of the most readily accessible ways to estimate body fat is to measure the physical thickness of the adipose (fat) layer directly under the skin.Here is a quick review of those major technologies. Each method has pros and cons and different levels of accuracy. These methods use a wide variety of technologies, ranging from very simple (a tape measure) to very complicated (three-dimensional laser scanning technology.

#3 site skinfold body fat calculator how to#

Now that you know how to use a caliper, you're probably wondering which measurement sites are appropriate for skinfold measurements.As mentioned earlier, there are many ways to estimate body fat.

Note the results, and take another measurement at the same spot, no further than 2 millimeters away, for accurate measurements.

Compress the caliper and measure the thickness of the fold while maintaining the pinch (it is best to wait for 2 seconds before reading the measurements).

Keep the fold elevated, and with your opposite hand, put the caliper perpendicular to the fold, close to your fingers.

Gently pull the skin away from the muscle the fold should be around 1 centimeter (0.39 inch) above the spot.

Pinch the skin at the location of your choice using your thumb and index finger of your one hand.

To take skinfold measurements with a body fat caliper, follow the listed steps: You can measure your skinfolds using a caliper, a device utilized to measure an object's thickness or diameter.