Everyone must possess a certain amount of body fat for good health. For men it's 5 percent, and for women it's 10 percent. There are many ways to measure body fat percentage including bioelectric impedance, measuring circumferences of body areas or calculating your body mass index or BMI. The most affordable way is by taking skinfold measurement with body calipers. A trained person can get a more accurate measurement.
Step 1
Draw up a layer of skin and fat in a vertical line or the natural line of the skinfold, using your thumb and forefinger. Do not pinch too hard or compress the fold.
Step 2
Release the fold with one hand and open the jaws of the caliper and place them over the skinfold about ½ inch from your fingers. Note the measurement on the caliper.
Step 3
Repeat this three times in different skinfold locations. Women should take measurements in the triceps, iliac crest, thigh and abdominals. Men should take skinfold measurements in the chest, calf and abdominals.
Step 4
Use the Jackson-Pollock method, and take the sum of the skinfolds and match it with your age on the chart (see Resources). The more skinfold measurements you take the more accurate the body fat percentage you calculate will be.
Tips and Warnings
- To measure triceps, take the skinfold measurement on the back of the right arm, halfway between the tip of the shoulder and elbow. Measure the iliac crest by taking a diagonal skinfold on top. Take the skinfold measurement on the front of the thigh midway between the hip and the knee. To measure abdominals, take a vertical skinfold measurement an inch to the right of the navel. For the chest measurement, take a skinfold above and to the right of the nipple halfway to the side. Measure the calf by taking the skinfold measurement on the inside of the calf and the level of the widest point of the calf muscle.
Things You'll Need
- Calipers
- Standard for Body Fatness chart
References
- "Concepts of Physical Fitness", Tenth Edition; Corbin, Charles; 2000
- Body Composition: Skin-Fold Measurements
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