Got my Body Fat measured...and YIKES!

[rodneyabs]

So the other day i'm at the mall and they had a booth to measure bodyfat using this thing you grip with your hands. It was a booth set up by discovery and bally's (no doubt to hope to get new leads on customers). The jist of the whole thing was so people could be aware of their weight/health.

So I weighed in at 195, and my bf reading was 17%!!! I told the girl working the booth "that is impossible, this thing is not accurate"!

She said it was, and I told her that "My obliques and top four abs are in very tight, if my bf% was that high, I wouldn't be able to see anything but flab!"

So I quickly drive home and break out the calipers. I get a reading of 13-14% which seems more accurate. This week i'm going to have a trainer at the gym measure my bf% for a correct reading.

HERE is my question: If my bodyfat is really 17% do you think I should go on a cutting cycle FIRST before trying to bulk up? I'd like to ideally be 9-10% bf.

 

[Beelzebub]

i've heard that they are + or - 4% accurate. so, that would make it about right, if you tested at 13%

 

[zman12]

I will tell you that I don't think they are accurate at all. A trainer at my gym was wanting to check the accuracy of them while I was dieting for my last show and I tried them 2 days before competion. They read that my bodyfat was at about 17% when it was checked at the show it was a little over 4% in a show which I placed second. So I just have hard time in beliving the acurracy.

 

[willieman]

I'll bet they had a deal for you on a membership....to get rid of all theat fat they just measured

 

[Silverback]

HERE is my question: If my bodyfat is really 17% do you think I should go on a cutting cycle FIRST before trying to bulk up? I'd like to ideally be 9-10% bf.

I am always debating, to bulk or loose fat??? I have figured out that I am not going to go by what calipers say, just by how I look in the mirror-- If I am getting too fat, I would diet--- If not bulk-- I will simply use the calipers to track my process, but they arent accurate--

 

[thick]

Go by the mirror but if you have the top 4 abs than finish your bulker

 

[Salvia]

my wife bought me one of those scales that measures your bodyfat through an electric pulse........what a fucking piece of shit.......i'm about 15% bf right now.......i weighed myself three times and the fucking scale read 27% then 44% then 24%...............

 

[thick]

take the scales back. they are worthless. A good cheap caliper I bought has been very consistent and pretty accurate. It is a digital caliper. It is a fat trackII i believe. around 20 bucks. It is definitely good to monitor progress b/c of its consistent readings

 

[gibson00]

I wonder how accurate the electronic, or caliper scales are. The reason I say this, is that everyone has visceral fat which is not visible/present at the skin level, where the calipers pinch. So not sure how accurate the estimate is when guessing how much visceral fat one has. Here is one of many articles on visceral fat:

http://my.webmd.com/content/article/63/71859.htm

 

[bronx220]

go to www.mybodycomp.com it is fairly accurate within 2-3% based on human error in measuring.those hand held pieces of shit are worthless.use one your 17% drink a pint of water and minutes later you are 10%.WTF!!!