How To Measure Your Body Fat Percentage ( % )Using Calipers
At the dawn of the health club, the scale was introduced as the primary means of tracking progress.
Then, fitness enthusiasts began using a measuring tape to assess inches lost after realizing the scale didn’t tell the whole truth.
Later, healthcare professionals started using the body mass index (BMI) as a measurement to assess the risk of chronic illnesses a person may develop depending upon their height and weight.
Finally, after realizing that lean muscle mass can negatively influence the outcomes of all of these tools, skinfold calipers were introduced as a way to measure success.
This expert guide will give you an in-depth outlook on why you should use skinfold calipers, where and how to take measurements, and what your percentage means for your overall health.
How to Measure Your Body Fat with Skinfold Calipers
Now that you’re familiar with why you should use a skinfold caliper, let’s move on to how you can measure your body fat using one.
Here’s what you’ll need to begin:
- Skinfold Caliper
- A friend to help perform the measurements (preferred)
- A marker/pen to mark measuring sites
- Something to write down and track results (paper, smartphone, etc.)
- A basic calculator to determine the medians of each measurement.
After you’ve gathered all the necessary items listed, you’ll be ready to pinch and pull. We’ll delve into the specific measuring locations momentarily, but first, let’s discuss a few pointers to get a clear and accurate body fat reading.
This will be a 7-fold caliper test and there’ll be 7 locations that you’ll want to measure. At each location, you’ll want to take 3 measurements to average out and ultimately plug into the body fat percentage calculation. Prior to taking the 3 measurements, you should mark the location with a “t”, pinching the cross with the caliper to obtain a consistent reading each time.
It’s important not to pinch too hard as this could disrupt the accuracy of the test. The caliper is used to determine the skinfold in millimeters. The thickness of the skinfold represents the amount of fat (in millimeters) at that particular location on your body. Thus, the harder you pinch, the more biased the outcome will be.
Finally, for the best results, you’ll want to take the measurements on the same side of your body and under the same circumstances for each subsequent test. The easiest way to manipulate these variables is to take your measurements on the right side of your body and in a fasted state (at the same time) upon waking in the morning.
Where exactly should you pinch? I’m glad you asked.
Calculating Your Body Fat Percentage
After you’ve measured all 7 locations 3 times and have an average of each individual measurement, you’re ready to plug your results into the formulas below to determine your body fat percentage. We’ll be using the Jackson and Pollock 7 site formula for this.
Body Fat Calculation for Males
Body Density = 1.112 – (0.00043499 * sum of skinfolds) + (0.00000055 * square of the sum of skinfold sites) – (0.00028826 * age)
Body Fat Percentage = (495 / Body Density) – 450
Body Fat Calculation for Females
Body Density = 1.097 – (0.00046971 * sum of skinfolds) + (0.00000056 * square of the sum of skinfold sites) – (0.00012828 * age)
Body Fat Percentage = (495 / Body Density) – 450
What These Body Fat Percentage Numbers Mean
Now that you know what your body fat percentage is, we can discuss what it means in accordance with your health. The table below demonstrates various body fat percentages and what each means in terms of health and performance.
| Category | Males (% BF) | Females (% BF) |
|---|---|---|
| Essential Fat | 2-5% | 10-13% |
| Athlete | 6-13% | 14-20% |
| Fitness | 14-17% | 21-24% |
| Acceptable | 18-24% | 25-31% |
| Obesity | >25% | >32% |
To break down the chart a little bit, let’s discuss what each of the categories means. Essential Fat is extremely low fat and anyone falling into this category is extremely lean (more than likely for a bodybuilding competition).
The athlete category is a notch above it. Those who fall into this category will be mid-season fitness competitors along with a lot of collegiate and professional sports athletes.
The fitness category best serves the everyday fitness enthusiast and off-season competitor who tracks his or her macros and hits the gym hard after work. This is the percentage that most pride themselves in falling under when springtime comes and they’re hanging out at the beach and/or pool.
The acceptable range is primarily composed of those who do not workout but may do some sort of weight maintenance on occasion. Those who do fall under this range, but still hope to lead a healthier lifestyle should aim to reach the lower percentage of this range (i.e. 25% for women and 18% for men).
The final range represents the obese population. This range is associated with a greater risk for chronic illness. However, if you fall in this range and wish to lead a healthier lifestyle, it’s not too late! Fat loss is very much an achievable goal.