Step By Step, How to do a 9 Site Body Comp-
Due to the overwhelming requests to “Guess my body fat %” I have set up a step by step guide on how to do a 9 site caliper test and come up with what should be fairly accurate numbers. The calculations for computing body fat are from John Parrillos BodyStat manual. Calipers work best on men with percentages up to 18% and women up to 30% and have an accuracy of +/- 2%.
The most important thing to aim for when doing body fat testing is consistency. Although the actual numbers are important and relevant you want to use it as a tool to determine if your diet, training and/or cardio schedule need to be adjusted.
What you will need:
*Accurate scale
*Skin fold calipers
*Extra set of hands
Keys to consistency are:
*Always have the same person do them in the exact same fashion.
*Always do them at the same time of the day.
*Always weigh yourself on the same scale immediately prior to the test. If you have a 1-2 pound difference between scales it will throw your numbers completely off.
How to pinch: All pinches are done with either a horizontal or a vertical pinch depending on the site. I have listed which to use for each site in detail below. Learning to feel the difference between skin, muscle and fat is the biggest challenge to doing accurate body comps. Practicing them on very lean subjects is a good way to a get good at it as their fat pulls from skin very easily. When you pinch a site you want to pull the skin 1 inch outward from the body. The caliper measurement is taken halfway in, not on the edge of the skin or at the body of the person. Be sure and hold the pinch in place while taking the measurement, do not let go. Take 2-3 measurements at the same site (releasing and re-pinching each time) and use the average of the readings.
Other helpful hints:
*Be sure whoever you are going to test does not put lotion on their skin prior to the test. This makes it extremely hard to pull the pull the skin.
*Hydration levels have an impact on the testing. If a woman is bloated due to monthly issues it can affect her results.
*Do the comps every 7-14 days and make adjustments as necessary. I usually wait until I get 2 comps in a row going the wrong direction (muscle loss, or lack of fat loss) before I make adjustments to cardio/diet.
