How accurate are these? I'm 5'11, 180lbs. I got a
reading that said my body fat was only 6.7% yet my BMI
was 25.1 which is overweight by the chart. What the F?
anybody have any experience with these? Thanks.
These scales don't take athletes (who tend to weigh more because of the muscle mass they have) into consideration. It arrives at those numbers based on height/weight, rather than bf %.
Based on that scale, Rickson Gracie is overweight.
Agreed, take it for what it's worth. I was just kind
of surprised.
The 6.7% body fat also seems a little low. It's the
first time I've had it tested and I thought I'd be
around 12%.
Thanks for the input.
body-composition is far more important for health and performance than BMI
Sometimes I wonder if this "obesity epidemic" is due to the fact that they use BMI scales. At 5'9" 178lbs., I'm considered overweight, by that scale.
4 ranges : no, there have been studies where BMI has been compared to BF% In a large population there is a high corrolation between high % bF and high BMI. People like you and SifuFullSleeves are exeptions. Most people that are heavy for their length isn't lean and muscular.
The bf %'s are very inaccurate, especially under 10%.
I have both a Tanita 682 scale that does body fat measurements and a Slimguide calipher. When I use the Tanita according to the instructions provided I usually get a BF reading withing 1% of the reading I get with the caliphers. I've been using the caliphers about 3 years now so I'm reasonably experienced with using them which is important since it takes a lot of practice, IMO, to take the readings correctly. You can still use them to monitor relative body fat changes in mm's just by taking readings at the same site over a period of time.
Anyway I'd read elsewhere that the Tanita BF scales were very good weight scales but for a lot of people the BF measures were way off, especially for very low (less than 10% BF in males). This model includes an athlete mode supposedly to compensate for these individuals. I'm only at around 17% bf (and damned glad to be there after dropping from 23% 3 months ago) so I don't use that mode, however, the Tanita is as I said reasonably accurate for me. Yesterday my caliphers showed me at 16.7%bf and the Tanita measured me at 16.9%. If you take a Tanita bf measurement first thing in the morning be aware it is going to be high due I think to changes in the distribution of water in your body.
--end $.02--
Everyone else has posted the correct and mailed it somewhere...
If your bf% is 6.7% then you will be RIPPED as fock!
Koing
HeangKoing- that's why I was asking because I train
hard and am in good shape but definatley not
"RIPPED as fock" as you put it.
10% is a good sick pack, unflexed for most people. So 6% would be way more than that. You'd be shredded dude.