HEALTH Q&A
Q: What is the best way to measure body fat percentage?
A: As a personal trainer, I can tell you it is very important to track your client's progress. One of the basic things we do is test a client's body fat and lean body mass, the amount of lean tissue on a person's body. Standard field tests are skin-fold calipers and bioelectrical impedance devices, such as the handheld and the scale. These devices have an error range of plus-or-minus 8 percent. So when you test you can be 15 percent, but the test may show your body fat being anywhere from 7 percent to 22 percent. That's why we choose to use the Bod Pod, the gold standard in body fat testing. The Mayo uses it, the National Football League uses it, major universities use it and so does the military. It measures air displacement, lung volume and lean tissue. The test takes four minutes.
Upon completion, you are given a printout that shows your body fat percentage, lean mass and your resting metabolic rate (the amount of calories you need to eat to maintain your current weight).
Las Vegas offers two such testing places. One is Lean Body Metrics, which you can find at www.leanbodymetrics.com, and the other is at UNLV.
A Bod Pod test can help you track your progress and tells you whether your workouts are working.
