Skinfold calipers are used to obtain a closer look at the amount of fat you have on your body. Since muscle weighs more than fat, the standard body mass index chart -- which uses only weight and age -- may be inaccurate. The skin caliper, however, measures skin fold thickness on select areas of your body, and then compares the measurements to a body composition chart. This tells you if the amount of fat you have is healthy or not.
Step 1
Find help. You may need help to access the appropriate measurement locations on your body. If you try to do it alone, you may get false measurements. When you twist or bend to reach measurement sites, your skin bunches up, causing readings to appear higher than if you're standing tall.
Step 2
Stand up straight. Otherwise, you skin may be thicker than normal.
Step 3
Locate your sites to measure. There are three locations on your body and they are different for men and women. Men should measure the chest, a few inches above the nipple and in line with the shoulder, abdomen, 1 inch to the right of your belly button and inner thigh. Women should measure the back of the upper arm, halfway between your shoulder and elbow, the top of the hip bone and the abdomen, 1 inch to the right of your belly button.
Step 4
Pinch the skin. Using your thumb and index finger, grab the skin to measure. Hold the skin firmly but not so hard that it causes pain.
Step 5
Place the caliper teeth around your skin fold while continuing to pinch the skin with your fingers. This enables the teeth to measure fat instead of simply holding your skin. Most calipers look like a gun, with two long pinchers on the end. These will grab your skin and measure thickness.
Step 6
Adjust the teeth, turning the button or knob that closes the teeth on your skin. Adjust until they are clamped firmly on your skin fold. Adjusting the teeth too tightly will cause pain and also provide an inaccurate measurement.
Step 7
Record your measurements. On the caliper, measurements in centimeters correspond to how wide the teeth are open. Once the teeth are in place, the number in centimeters tells you the thickness of the area of fat. Write these numbers down to use for your final fat total.
Step 8
Add up the numbers from all three measurements. If you're new to this type of measuring, you may want to measure areas a few times, calculate the averages and then add them together.
Step 9
Compare your total to the body composition chart, located in the Resources section. The body composition chart uses the total of all three numbers along with your age to determine what a healthy amount of fat is for you. For men, a healthy range is between 19 and 24.9. And for women, it's between 18 and 24.4.
Member Comments