Body Composition Measurements: Skinfolds

Skinfold measurements

It has been awhile since my last blogging post – sorry about the long pause, I was trying to get a new structure going for my clients at the gym / working on my own scheduling so I wouldn’t be driving back and forth so often/ and working on getting to know the new clients I have taken on, not to mention, my gym had a grand opening and I wanted to be present so I could sell myself to possible new members. With all this being said, I took a break from blogging & haven’t been as present on Instagram either BUT this will all change, I am going to start back at blogging and getting on instagram more often again so I can rebuild myself as a personal trainer and have recent post for my clients at the gym to read. On that note, I am going to continue where I left off talking about body composition measurements. 

Skinfolds, have any of you heard of this before? In college was my first time being introduced to it and learning how to properly measure someones body using calipers. Since then I haven’t used this method in a really long time, and my gym doesn’t use this method — we have something new called “evolt” (high tech machine) and seems like it will be the future for body composition measurements. Anyways, for those of you who don’t know what I mean when I say “skinfold measurements” — it is another way of saying pinching the skin using calipers & basically there are multiple ways of doing this:

1) The 7 site skinfold 

2) The 3 site skinfold 

Men and women have different areas of the body that needed measured during the skinfold measurement. If we are doing the 7 site skinfold — both men and women will need to use the calipers to measure: chest, abdomen, thigh, triceps, axilla, subscapula, suprailliac 

For women the 3 site skinfold sites: Triceps, thigh, suprailliam

For men the 3 site skinfold sites: Chest, thigh, abdomen

Steps to take proper skinfold measurements:

1. Identify which part of the body you will be taking the measurement. Take ALL measurements on the RIGHT side of the body. 
2. Grasp the skinfold firmly with the thumb and index finger of the left hand
3. Hold the calipers perpendicular to the site, place the pads of the calipers approximately 1-4 inches from the thumb and forefinger
4. Approximately after 1-2 seconds after the trigger has been released, read the dial to the nearest 0.5mm
5. A minimum of two measurements should be taken at each site with at least 15 seconds between the measurements to allow the fat to return to its normal thickness.
6. Continue to take measurements until two measurements vary by less than 1 mm