Many of you, I would even say, are more and more worried about your appearance, diet, diet as part of strength training.

To know where you want / need to go, you need to know where you are in terms of your fat mass.

Therefore, you should be able to measure this fat and include it correctly in your dry bodybuilding or diet program.

How to reliably measure your performance?
What is the ratio of women to men in competition?

We will teach you this in this article.

Lean muscle: finding balance

Lean muscle is the effort to build muscle by reducing the fat layer.

A typical and most compelling example is the abdominals. We all have abdominals, more or less developed, but under a certain layer of fat.

To reduce this layer, be sure to follow the appropriate diet for your case.

The difficulty lies in the fact that you have to find the right compromise to get rid of fat without losing muscle mass.

Balance and BMI are unreliable!

The weight on the scales is unreliable, everyone knows that!

Indeed, you can count heavy weights on your scales, when in reality you are endowed with heavy body and muscles. In front of a mirror, the body does not lie, and each has its own physical goals.

The distribution of your muscle and fat mass will be the only indicator of your mass.

An example of an inappropriate index: BMI!

If this indicator remains on for a large number of years, this indicator does not take into account the dry / fat ratio.

There are various reliable methods of obtaining inventory.

What is impedance measurement?

This is a rough estimate of the water level in your body using the microcurrent system that runs through your body.

From this data, we infer body fat using predictive equations based on your total weight, your height, your gender, and your age.

We find this type of machine at several of its Sports and Trade Shows such as the Salon Body Fitness in Paris in France or international exhibitions such as the Fibo in Cologne.

Why isn’t this figure very reliable?

It’s very simple, the estimate of the water level is approximate because it is influenced by our daily hydration.

I also noticed on my own that during two tests on two different machines at intervals of a few seconds, the results were not the same.

We estimate an error, sometimes 8% at 12%, between professional multifrequency scales and laboratory scanners.

Skin pliers or thick nose pliers are used by nutritionists, bodybuilders, athletes, and people who are professionals looking for realistic results.

The principle is to compress 4 control folds and measure the average thickness of each layer.

These pliers can be mechanical or electronic.

You can buy plating pliers. guide here, or if you prefer electronic skin folding pliers there.

We’re going to pinch the following levels:

• Biceps
• Triceps
• Subscapularis (at the level of the scapula)
• Susiliac (groin level)

The resulting figure is compared with the accounts (tables presented later in this article) to obtain a fat mass indicator.

Reference formulas:

There are two that are nutritional: Durnin’s formula and Wormley’s formula.

Thanks to these formulas, you can observe the evolution of each skin fold much more reliably!

These measures have their limits, if a person has too high fat mass, then forceps are not suitable.

Pivot Table of Female and Male Mass Percentages

Of course, there is no ideal indicator, but here are the average values ​​for different types of athletes:

• 4 to 6%: bodybuilder in competition (several days maximum)
• 8 to 10%: dry physical sports
• + 10%: less visual muscle definition
• 9 to 13%: the so-called normal for athletes
• 15 to 20%: Normal for sedentary men

Still not perfect for a woman

The observed indicators are as follows:

• 8 to 12%: female bodybuilder in competition (several days maximum)
• 15 to 17%: athletic and lean woman
• 18 to 22%: considered normal for athletic women
• 19%: less visual muscle definition
• 25 to 30%: Normal for a sedentary woman

Application of Darnin and Womersley’s Methods: Calculating Fat Mass

For a fair assessment, certain criteria must be strictly observed:

• These measurements are always performed by the same person.
• Measurements should always be taken from the right side.
• The four folds are always the same: the biceps, triceps, subscapularis, and iliacus.
• The face to be measured must be completely relaxed.
• The fold is sandwiched between thumb and forefinger.
• The fold does not occupy muscle tissue, only the skin and subcutaneous tissue.
• Measurement is carried out systematically 3 times to obtain an average