Body Composition Testing

Knowing your body fat percentage can be one of the most important bits of biological data that you can know about yourself. If you're on a weight loss or fitness program it can be difficult to determine whether you're losing fat or muscle. The only way to know for sure is to have your body composition measured.

Crude measurements like BMI cannot distinguish between a pound of muscle and a pound of fat. So, athletic and muscular people are often misdiagnosed as being obese when in fact they are likely some of the healthiest people around.

On the other side BMI will misdiagnose people who have what is considered a "normal" weight but who are nevertheless still obese by body fat percentage measurements.

According to this report by the Mayo Clinic:

"More than half of American adults considered to have normal body weight in America have high body fat percentages — greater than 20 percent for men and 30 percent for women — as well as heart and metabolic disturbances"

This has serious implications for people who are relying on simplistic measures like BMI to determine their health status. The report goes on to say

"The researchers defined "normal weight" by body mass index (BMI). They found that people with normal BMI who had the highest percentage of body fat were also those who had metabolic disturbances linked to heart disease."

The net effect of this knowledge is that we now know that measuring body fat is a key component to determining one's health status and developing a sound fitness program.

Each Analysis Includes:

Certified Body Weight
Body Fat Percentage
Total Lean Body Mass
Thoracic Gas Volume
  Body Density
  Resting Metabolic Rate
  Total Energy Expenditure
  Blood Pressure