|
Ask Rocco you personal fitness questions |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Written by Rocco, for NEXTnc
|
|
Thursday, 04 January 2007 |
|
|
|
|
 Q: What’s the best way to measure fitness progression? Scale weight and BMI (body-mass index) don’t account for muscle vs. fat weight. I had my body fat tested with calipers (13 percent) and Tanita Body Composition Analyzer (22 percent). Both testers felt they were more right than the other. At 47 years old, 210 pounds and 6-feet tall, I’m sure I need to lose some fat, but how much? Thanks.
Tom, Fort Collins
A: This is a great question. I get asked this question most of the time in person from clients or potential clients, but not from readers.
Any time you are getting any type of analysis, you are depending on a person or apparatus to be accurate — and sometimes that just doesn’t happen.
Calipers can be the most efficient way to keep an account of your progress, but since a human being is recording the data, it can sometimes be skewed if that individual doesn’t squeeze hard enough or records from the wrong site on your body.
I recommend that if you go this route, you have the same fitness professional perform the body-fat analysis. This will ensure that, at the very least, the data collected will be semi-consistent and can be used to chart your progress and conclude fairly reasonable assumptions.
Nothing is the end all, be all. All methods of recording body-fat analysis data have degrees of fallibility and/or margins of error that need to be taken into consideration.
As to the results of the Tanita Body Composition Analyzer, I’m not a big fan. There are too many things that can skew the reading — two important ones being water consumption and water retention. Another factor is the difference between a handheld analyzer and a standing scale.
How can you accurately figure from bio-impedance or infrared beams the composition of your whole body if you’re only measuring your legs or your arms? It would be like trying to figure out the height of a ceiling by measuring the floor. It could never be as accurate as measuring the walls.
I would stick with something that is easy and can be measured from as many sites as you can take from (calipers) or rely on something that is even easier and can be more accurate. Take three measurements: chest, waist, hips. Your chest and hips should be the same size and your waist should be 10 inches smaller. If it’s not, you have some fat to lose.
————
Rocco Castellano is the co-founder of askROCCO Media, which provides boot camps, seminars, media content and online fitness services at askROCCO.com. He is certified by the National Academy of Sports Medicine and has written “askROCCO Uncensored v1” available at bookstores. Ask your personal
fitness questions at askROCCO.com.
| Only registered users can write comments.
Please login or register. |
|
|  | "Humankind cannot gain anything without first giving something in return. To obtain, something of equal value must be lost. That is Alchemy's first law of Equivalent Exchange. In those days, we really believed that to be the world's one, and only truth." | |
|  | We're not that bright, even though in our own little world, we're geniuses. We like 80s hair bands and one-hit wonders, but among us we have respectable tastes, too. Metallica, Iron Maiden, U2. Pursuit of all things trivial is a lifestyle, not just a game. We like some sports, love other sports, and can find something to say about anything. We watch TV and movies and we've read a book or two, even a few classics (Yes, Classic Comics count!)
We call it insight, you call it what you will. | |
|  | Felix Wong is an outdoor enthusiast living in Fort Collins. A mechanical engineer by day, he is especially passionate about bicycling, running, and backpacking. | |
|  | Hola Amigos! I'm Sandra. I like to believe that people are 70 percent good and 30 percent dumb. I'm stickin to that story. Reading this blog might make you want to be good, but probably just dumb. | |
|  | Donovan Henderson is editor of NEXTnc. | |
|  | Here at Nextnc we have some characters. Get a sneak peak behind the curtain and find out what amusing antics our staffers get themselves into on a weekly basis. | |
|  | What is up FoCo?
I am a recent college graduate of Minnesota State University Moorhead. After recieving my B.A. in English and Mass Communications this past August I moved down to Colorado.
I enjoy long walks on the beach, candlelight dinners, and heavy metal. My hobbies include reading and writing, music, movies, and getting drunk. Some of my favorite contemporary authors include Bret Easton Ellis, Chuck Palahniuk, and Kurt Vonnegut. My top movies are anything directed by Kubrick. I enjoy listening to anything that rocks.
Right now I am just trying to get to know Colorado and FoCo better. Mostly in order to find the best drink specials on each day that ends in Y. So if you know where I can get a cheap drunk on, let me know!
--Drew | |
|  | Life's little morsels of inspiration, observation and encouragement seen through the eyes of the Nextnc reporter.
| |
|  | Ms. Giles currently lives in Colorado where she stars in her own private reality show. She writes aphoristic accounts of her life, taken completely out of context, and embellished with characters and situations disguised to resemble something close to interesting. | |
|  | over and out | |
| | My name is Michelle Turley and I'm 28 years old. I live in Severance with my hubbie, Brandon. We have 2 dogs and a cat. We enjoy camping, four-wheeling, and just being in the mountains. I like to cook, clean (go figure), flea market, and play poker. I have so much to say about poker... | |
|
|
