Using Body Composition Analysis to Reach Your Fitness Goals

It seems to me that everywhere I go these days, I see them. They’re in line behind me at Tim Horton’s in the morning and drive by me at ten o’clock at night. You know who they are. They’re fitness people. You’ve seen them, jogging down park trails and carrying their gym bags on the bus. They come in all shapes and sizes, and wear workout gear ranging from spandex to cotton. And they’re multiplying. Everyday more and more of them pop up.

You probably know one of these people. Maybe it’s your husband, or your sister, maybe even your mother. Or maybe, just maybe, it’s you.  

And despite all their differences, every single fitness person has one thing in common: they all take their health and fitness goals very seriously. Whether its to lose five pounds or gain fifteen, they put in the time and effort to reach their goals. They're dedicating hours in the gym and are becoming a force to be reckoned with. 

But how do any of these people really know what’s really going on inside their bodies? How do they know if they're anywhere near their fitness goals? So many people I know go to the gym tirelessly to either lose weight or bulk up, but they base their progress on their general weight via scales or their Body Mass Index (BMI).

The BMI equation was invented in the 1800’s and was designed for population studies and not for individuals. So it’s no surprise that it has flaws, including failing to account for different body types and proportions. For instance, under BMI measurements athletes are often considered overweight or even obese because of their height to weight ratio.

As for monitoring your fitness and health progress by relying on the average scale, people often forget that your total weight is comprised of more than just fat, but also your muscles, minerals, and body water. Therefore, when the scale fluctuates it could be because of your total body water rather than any muscle growth or fat loss. And you have absolutely no way of knowing with a simply bathroom scale.

Every individual’s body is much more complex than what scales or BMI can recognize, making them both inadequate to properly relay what’s going on with your body before and after you’ve worked out.

This is where Body Composition Analysis (BCA) comes into play.

BCA is a much more accurate way to understand exactly what’s going on with your body. A person’s body composition is the total percentages of fat, bone, water, and muscle in the human body. And since muscle tissue takes up less space in the body than fat tissue, even if they weigh the same (i.e. 9 lbs of fat will take up more space than 9lbs of muscle), it means that two people with the same weight may look completely different because of their different body compositions.

One of the most precise ways to measure BCA is through Bio-electrical Impedance Analysis (BIA), which uses the resistance of electrical flow through the body to determine how much fat, muscle, water, and bone is in the body. Using this it is easy to map out exactly how much fat you have lost in comparison to how much muscle you’ve gained over a period of time, detailing your progress much more accurately.

And with the new advances in BIA technology it’s even easier to get more precise data. While old BIA would analyse an entire body as a whole, new BIA technology, found in InBody machines, calculates your body composition in the 5 cylinders of your body including your arms, legs, and your trunk (torso). This means you can define how much stronger your right arm is than your left or exactly where you have extra fat, which helps to create workout plans that are catered to exactly what you want for your individual fitness needs.

So if you want in on the fitness craze, are already in on it, or know someone that is, just know that understanding your body composition is the way you should be monitoring your progress. Other methods include far too many limitations and exceptions and are not designed especially for you in the way that BCA is. 

And for people who take their fitness goals seriously, shouldn't you have a method of monitoring your progress that takes it just as seriously?

Visit www.inbodycanada.ca to learn more about BCA, BIA, and the InBody units.