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10 Health Fitness Tips
More than any other time in history, people are all trying to have the best, healthiest body possible. The health and fitness industries are making billions of dollars every year on herbal supplements, fitness equipment, gyms, and special diets. If...
Fitness Tips On How To Avoid Gaining Weight During The Holiday Season
This holiday season don’t be trendy – avoid the Seasonal Seven (the average weight most Americans gain between Thanksgiving and New Year’s). That’s one trend you don’t want to participate in! I know what you are thinking – the...
Nutrition - What are the Nutritional Needs?
Nutrition as it applies to our daily lives means that we take in
what we need to maintain our body's healthy state. Nutrition has
become an important word thanks to the involvement of the USDA
in our daily food requirements, and the FDA's...
Overcome Sports Pain After 40 - Are Remedies Available? Part 1.
Have you noticed that you seem to have more pain in places like your back - knees and ankles as you age -- especially after forty. These nagging pains can hinder your ability to live an active life style and enjoy sports.
In this two-part...
So You Want To Build A Home Gym”You Want To Build A Home Gym
I walked into the commercial gym yesterday after a long day of work excited to begin my workout. After warming up I proceeded to the squat rack to start my resistance training workout. I unfortunately ran into a bit of a roadblock. I was planning...
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Measuring and Monitoring Your Bodyfat: Improves Overall Health
With so many diets and fads being offered on the market today, it is no wonder why people are not just confused about weight loss and health, but in many cases, actually doing their body more harm than good. Unfortunately, one of the aspects of dieting that you see most often is the reduction or elimination of fat. The problem is that the body needs a certain amount of fat to function but without going over a healthy level. As you will see in this article, knowing what the right level is and how to monitor it are crucial to overall health and wellness.
Studies have been able to link certain conditions such as heart disease, diabetes, and high blood pressure with high levels of body fat. The key is to ensure your body has enough fat to function properly but not too much, whereby disease could become a problem. The best way for a person to determine the level of body fat is by measuring it on a consistent basis with a simple tool called a caliper. In a matter of minutes, you will know exactly how much body fat you are carrying around with you. With this information, you will then be able to adjust your diet, cardio exercises, and weight training to bring the fat-to-muscle ratio in line.
Keep in mind that there are several options, one being a body fat analyzer. Additionally, there is the skin fold test whereby waist to hip ratio measurements will be taken, circumference measurements, hydrostatic weight, near infrared analysis, bioelectrical impedance, total body potassium determination, and a test recently offered called the plethysmographic measurement, which is based on the principle of air displacement. All of these tests are good indicators of your current fat-to-muscle ratio.
Now, if you want to go through a professional to determine your true body fat level, you have two excellent options, both being accurate. The first is the Dual Energy X-Ray Absorptiometry (DEXA) and the second, Hydrostatic Weighing. With DEXA, a full body scanner is used that reads and differentiates between bone mass and soft tissue mass. This type of scan can be completed in about 20 minutes and is painless, providing accuracy within a 2% error margin. Many insurance companies will cover the cost of DEXA but if not, you can have the scan performed for around $100.
With Hydrostatic
Weighing, the body is weighed underwater. The test consists of sitting on a scale underneath water while blowing out as much air from your lungs as possible. Then when dunked below the water’s surface, you would blow out even more air. Because fat does not weigh as much as water, the more fat a person’s body has, the more they will float. Therefore, Hydrostatic Weighing works by measuring underwater weight so that body density can be determined.
On the other hand, if you want to have the option of determining your fat-to-muscle ratio on your own and every day if you like, you can simply purchase a caliper from drug stores, health equipment stores, and even on the internet. Just remember that if you are interested in losing weight, instead of depending on the bathroom scale, it is important that you worry more about the excess fat being carried. While a standard scale will tell you if you are losing weight from diet and exercise, a scale will not tell if you are losing the body’s muscle or fat.
Understanding how to measure and monitor your body fat gives you a level of control to your future. The problem is that the majority of people know very little about their bodies. To become and stay healthy, you need to understand your body - how it works and what your body composition is so you can make choices that will be best for your overall health and wellness. Again, the best way to achieve this is to incorporate good diet, cardio exercise, and moderate weight training into your daily routine, along with measuring your fat-to-muscle ratio with a caliper.
While there are many different websites that provide you with valuable information and guidance, one of the best is Composition Tracker. With more than 25 different body fat formulas from which to choose, you will feel confident knowing you can and will succeed with losing unwanted fat. Composition Tracker offers tremendous benefit to all types of people, whether you are a man, woman, teenager, or elderly person. To gain more information and to get started today, simply visit http://www.comptracker.com
About the Author
Fitness Consultant Anthony Ellis has helped thousands of individuals lose fat and build more muscle. To read more about his fat loss recommendations please check out his site at http://www.fatlosstips.com
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