There are also hand held devices and scales which measure body fat but these are often inaccurate. The body fat caliper calculator is based on the skinfold method of determining body fat percentage.
How To Measure Body Fat Using Calipers
Body fat measurement using calipers. Caliper procedures all calculator measurements should be made on the right side of the body caliper should be placed 1 cm away from thumb and finger perpendicular to skinfold and halfway between crest and base of fold pinch should be maintained while reading the caliper wait 1 to 2 s and not. Using skinfold calipers is the most common way to measure your body fat mass. Skinfold measurements have been used to estimate body fat for over 50 years skinfold calipers measure the thickness of your subcutaneous fat the fat underneath the skin at certain body. This is the most accurate method to measure your body fat. The skinfold method using calipers according to the american council on exercise ace is the most commonly used method of estimating a persons body composition. This in depth guides teaches you how to calculate your body fat percentage and measure your progress using skin fold calipers.
Direction of fold is vertical and is taken two centimeters to the side of the umbilicus. How do i take body fat caliper measurements. A caliper is a tool that measures skinfold thickness at various parts on the body. Tutorial written by doug lawrenson. To use body fat calipers start by choosing a body part thats easy to pinch like your bicep or thigh. The skinfold method measures skinfold thickness at 3 to 9 different locations on the body depending on the method used then computes body density and with it the total body fat percentage.
A basic way to measure body fat percentage is by using a soft tape measure like the kind youd use for sewing to record measurements of different parts of the body. Measurements are taken by grasping with the thumb and index finger a fold of skin and any accompanying subcutaneous soft fat and pulling. Using body fat calipers. The caliper testing method of body fat measurement works on the notion that 50 percent of total body fat lies under the skin. Then pinch the skin between your thumb and index finger and attach the jaws of the calipers to the area. According to the american council on exercise approximately 50 of your body fat lies under the skin.
8 therefore measuring the thickness of your folds of skin is a fairly accurate method to calculate body fat percentage. Hydrostatic weighing and other high tech machines are expensive and almost impossible for a layperson to access. For our purposes the easiest and most accurate choice is the caliper method. Next press down on the calipers where indicated with your thumb until you hear a click which means the measurement has been recorded.
Gallery of Body Fat Measurement Using Calipers
