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I was reading the sticky about how to do a body comp test using calipers. It states that calipers are only accurate for up to 18% for men. I know I am more than 18% and I also know that BMI calculators are junk because they put me at 31.2% which I think is incorrect. What are other effective ways of measuring my BF? I would like to monitor it and track it's decline to see how well I am doing. I'm 75.5'' tall and weigh in at 253.
BMI=Body mass index which is pretty useless and outdated (even though the military still uses it or did up to 5 years ago) There are a couple methods. There is an impendence test, this is basically like taking a multi meter and putting a small current through your body to measure its resistance. This number along with height, weight, sex, and age are taken into account and give you a body fat percentage. Probably the least accurate method i've used to measure bodyfat I'd say its accurate within 5-7% most of the time. Then there are calipers which measure skin folds on different areas of your body, then those measurements are put into an algorithm with other information (height wieght etc) and thats how that number is determined its probably the 2nd most accurate test for bodyfat (within 3-5%) Then the most accurate gauge is Hydrostatic measurement. Basically you're body is dunked in a tank of water and your volume is measured then compared to your weight (or thats my basic understanding of it) and gives you a bodyfat percentage
It's crazy how some our best and most accurate technology is the simplest. The last one you mentioned is the most basic of basic density tests you can do, p=m/V.