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Body Composition Tools

Your body composition can directly affect your health. An overweight or obese person carries an unhealthy body composition: too much fat in contrast to lean muscle. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that being overweight or obese can increase the following risks for type 2 diabetes, hypertension, stroke, heart disease and various cancers. Body composition tools allow you to estimate your fat to lean muscle ratio to determine if you are healthy.

  1. Skin Calipers

    • Skin calipers are one of the oldest and most popular body composition tools on the market today. These essential body fat tools are inexpensive, convenient, and easy to use. Skin calipers measure your skinfolds in certain areas of the body to determine your subcutaneous fat percentage. These numbers are placed into an equation to predict body density and body fat percentage. Body locations regularly measured are triceps, biceps, subscapular, suprailiac, abdominal, thigh, calf, and chest.

    Measuring Tape

    • Body measuring tapes are easy-to-use girth measuring tools that keep track of your body fat percentage. A simple, flexible tape measure is all that is needed along with a journal to keep track of your measurements over time. Waist and hip circumferences are primarily measured and these ratios calculated to figure abdominal fat. Other measured locations include the neck, shoulder, bicep, chest and calves.

    Dual Energy X-ray Absorptiometry

    • The Dual Energy X-ray Absorptiometry, or DEXA, is a body composition equipment that is highly accurate and reliable in body fat measurement. It is also expensive. The DEXA's calculations are based on your fat, muscle, bone as opposed to strictly fat and muscle from other body measurement tools. Your body fat will be measured in one scan in which you remain motionless for 10 to 20 minutes. You can normally find a DEXA in a research facility.

    BOD POD

    • The BOD POD is an egg-shaped, fiberglass equipment piece found at research units, hospitals, fitness centers, and sports teams and is used to measure your body fat and muscle composition. This equipment uses air displacement plethysmograph which is similar to hydrostatic weighing without the use of water. The BOD POD is dependable and precise in determining your body composition and is fast, safe, and radiation-free.

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