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Even though nature has given you a
particular body type, when you add lean body mass and cut down on fat
weight you are actually changing the composition of your body. It is
often difficult to keep track of body composition developments because
your training is creating more muscle mass, so your body composition can
change quite a lot without your realizing it. The mirror, the scale, and
the tape measure are always useful, but sometimes they don't tell you
enough.
In addition to simply
studying yourself in the mirror, the best way to keep track of physical
body composition changes is by some form of body composition testing.
Body composition testing gives you an indication of the percentage of
muscle your body has compared to the amount of fat. Body composition
test will help track your progress as you gain muscle and lose fat. The
most common types of body composition testing are:
- Skin-fold testing. Calipers
are used to pinch folds of skin at various parts of your body, which
indicates how much fat is under the skin, and this is used to calculate
body composition.
- Water-emersion testing. The
subject is weighed out of the water, then in the water, and certain
measurements such as the residual capacity of the lungs are taken. The
number are applied to a formula to determine the ratio of fat to lean
body mass - which is composed of muscle, bone, and internal organs.
- Electrical impedance testing.
A low voltage current is passed through the body. Since fat, muscle and
water create different amounts of resistance to electrical current, the
amount of resistance encountered allows for calculation of body
composition.
However, while measuring body
composition is useful in ascertaining the results of a diet or what
changes training is creating in your physique, be aware that the
direction of change from one test to another is more significant than
the specific results you get in any one test. The reason is that all the
test numbers are run through formulas that make certain assumptions
about the body that don't necessarily apply very well to the extreme
development of serious bodybuilders. So if your body composition test
are tested as 12% body fat in one session and 9% two weeks later, you
can be pretty sure you're headed in the right direction - assuming you
are taking the same type of test administered in the same way, so that
the retest accuracy is high.
We have heard some ridiculous claims
made for body fat testing, such as by athletes asserting they have as
little as 3% body fat. Any doctor will tell you that 3% might be the fat
level of a cadaver, but not a strong, healthy athlete. In tests
conducted at IFBB and NPC contests, using a variety of methods, it was
shown that the bigger the bodybuilder the higher the fat percentage when
the competitor is ripped. So a massive bodybuilder might be ripped at
12% body fat measurement, while a lightweight amateur might look great
at 7 or 8%.
Why? Because what we traditionally
think of as fat is not the only fat in your body. There is also
intramuscular fat, which is the fat in the muscle itself. So if a really
big bodybuilder continues to diet past a certain point he is likely to
just shrink rather than getting more cut-up. So while body composition
testing is useful, don't forget to use the mirror or photographs to keep
track of how you look. Remember, the judges don't take body fat tests
into consideration during a contest. They go only by what they see. And
you need to do the same thing.
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