Question

[brian101883]

How accurate is an electronic Bf% calculator that you hold in your hands.

 

[Esox Express]

It depends on a lot of factors. It measures the resistance to electric current that is passed through the water content in your body. If you are dehydrated, hyperhydrated, if you just drank a lot of water recently, or if you just ate a meal, you can get an inaccurate reading. People with very low bodyfat% or a considerable amount of muscle mass will also get inaccurate readings. For the average guy, it should give you a ballpark range, but don't swear by it.

 

[Royd The Noyd]

It is probably more useful to gauge the direction your moving vs actual BF%.

 

[russy_russ]

Typically a 3%-5% marginal error is associated with bioelectrical impedance devices. However, a reading done under the same conditions will result in a more 'accurate' reading. A caliper or another method for testing body composition should be used and compare results.

 

[Rosie Chee]

How accurate is an electronic Bf% calculator that you hold in your hands.

Not very accurate at all and can be out by up to 10% BF!!! Bioelectrical impedance is one of the most INaccurate ways of measuring BF, because there are too many factors to take into account. How hydrated you are, what time of the day, whether you have eaten or just done a training session, etc., all can influence the reading. Also, most 'handheld BF calculators' calculate BF based on an electrical current that goes through the body, and for some it only goes through one SIDE of the body, or just the LOWER body, and therefore does not give you an accurate idea of what your BF is at all. At best, if all factors are controlled, then it can provide a ballpark figure, or something that you can compare reading against reading to, but not to be taken as serious.

The 'gold standard' of BF% calculations is done by underwater weighing. But this can be very expensive and impractical.

The next best thing is to get either 6 or 8 skinfolds done by someone who KNOWS what they are doing (i.e. ISAK certified), and calculate it from there. Factors still need to be taken into account, but if your anthropometrist knows their stuff, then skinfolds can be accurate within a 3% margin.

 

[XBB]

Are you talking callipers? If so you need to take %'s from various points and then decide not just one.