Hey guys, i finally got a set of digital bodyfat capliers, FatTrack 2.

Any tips? Its not that clear in the manual where to pinch the skin and why they don't tell you that you need to press the blue button to input the data is beyond me.

My first reading was %13.1 and then my second was 2.6....? i don't think so. :lol:

Measure the BF on the Suprailliac. It is the skin right on top of the hip bone. Put your thumb on the tip of the hi[ bone, feel around and you will find it, then put your pointer finger about 2-3 inches above your thumb and pinch. Then take your reading there.

Do this three times from beginning to end, then average the three.

You have your estimated BF %.

Here is another site that I use as another number to average:

http://www.linear-software.com/online.html

I use the caliper average, and the three site average on that site.

Take those two numbers and average that.

Actually the Mid-section measurement is suppose to be taken 3/4 of an inch from the side of the umbilicus.

Which is the navel. :)

How much of the skin do you pinch? I can hardly pinch my thigh for instance.

Did you try these videos (scroll down the page):

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/drobson108.htm

They're OKAY but I still had trouble after watching them. I still got readings between 2% and 15%... :lol:

How much of the skin do you pinch? I can hardly pinch my thigh for instance.
Same here, I was getting "0" on my thigh. I'm an idiot I guess, lol. I think I'm going to take the calipers to the gym and have a professional show me how to do it properly.

Yeah Chris its not so easy has i thought it would. It will take sometime to get use to i guess.

Thanks for the videos, i'll take a look NOW. :D

I assume you guys are shifting weight and oh so slightly bending your knee - this will provide you with more skin to pull up...

I'm still fat so it's not too hard for me - I've gotten consistant at it even. I can't wait until I'm lean enough to say "I can't pinch any skin"

Wahhhh wahhhhh :)

I bought the Fat Track not too long ago. I found that I could never get an accurate measure. The levels that were on the caliper were, in my opinion, too low. If you look at my progress pics, there is no I have only 13 percent body fat. It has been posted that as long as the measurements you get are consistent then thats okay. You can still see if you gain fat or muscle.

I agree with Omaha. In fact the Accu-measure caliper, which also makes the Fat track II, only measure the one site Omaha mentions. You can still use the Fat track to measure just this one site. Just take the measurement right above your hipbone and press on the Fat Track. The reading will be in milimeters. You can take it a couple of times in a row and get the number that comes out the most. Then you can go to the Accu-measure website, which I have linked below, and use the measurement chart to convert the milimeters to a body fat percentage.

I like this method more because I get the same numbers consistently. For example I get 14mm, which is about 16.4 percent body fat (give or take 1 percent. This looks a lot closer to what my body looks like right now.

here is the link, they also have intructions on finding the skinfold area
http://www.accumeasurefitness.com/products/am3k_chart.pdf

I assume you guys are shifting weight and oh so slightly bending your knee - this will provide you with more skin to pull up...

I'm still fat so it's not too hard for me - I've gotten consistant at it even. I can't wait until I'm lean enough to say "I can't pinch any skin"

Wahhhh wahhhhh :)
Shut up Mr. 23" Biceps. :mad:

:lol: :D

canada: Did those vids help you??

here is the link, they also have intructions on finding the skinfold area
http://www.accumeasurefitness.com/products/am3k_chart.pdf

Note the effect that age has. For the life of me, I can't explain that. Why should fat% increase because you become older when you obtain the same measurement? Someone above 56 years old with the same 14mm has a 22.8% reading, why?:confused:

Shut up Mr. 23" Biceps. :mad:

:lol: :D

canada: Did those vids help you??

Alittle, i'm pretty disappointed in FatTrack so far. The manual sucks too IMO.

Alittle, i'm pretty disappointed in FatTrack so far. The manual sucks too IMO.

I like mine and I do agree - the "manual" does suck. The key on it is practice, practice, practice. Pinching and lifting skin properly and consistantly, finding the right touch of pressure to know when a measurement will be recorded, and measuring the same spots are all critical in mastering it.

Note the effect that age has. For the life of me, I can't explain that. Why should fat% increase because you become older when you obtain the same measurement? Someone above 56 years old with the same 14mm has a 22.8% reading, why?

Very true and boggling to me as well.

Shut up Mr. 23" Biceps.

Hee Hee :) You're my buddy Chris ;)

Note the effect that age has. For the life of me, I can't explain that. Why should fat% increase because you become older when you obtain the same measurement? Someone above 56 years old with the same 14mm has a 22.8% reading, why?:confused:


I think the explaination is that as we get older our body has a tendancy to hold more visceral fat. When using calipers it is really only measuring subcutaneous fat although they transpose that figure out to include visceral fat when you look it up on the chart. So if you have higher visceral fat storage you will have a higher overall bodyfat %.

Taken from: http://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do;jsessionid=73FD1EAF5F93CDB9CFF6658AD8 54EB27.hydra?id=460416&pageNo=-1#bottom

"...Why is age included in these formulas? As normal people (not T-mag readers!) age, there's an increase in intra-abdominal fat, a decrease in total muscle mass, and a decrease in bone density (12). These equations try to account for these changes by adding body fat as we age. Of course, this doesn't apply nearly as much to people who train with weights."