Fitness: Body Composition
Body composition, in terms of fitness, refers to the ratio between a person's fat mass to his/her lean muscle mass. Another way of expressing body composition is as a percentage of body fat.
Body Fat and Obesity
There are many misconceptions surrounding body fat. The most predominant one seems to be that people believe that no body fat is good body fat. While this premise is true in a particular sense, it is not an accurate portrayal of fat. In fact, in order to survive, you will need some fat for biosynthesis, heat insulation, and protection of your internal organs. Ideally, males should have less than 15% of body fat while females should have least than 25%. (Females have a higher range for % body fat for childbearing purposes). The majority of body fat is adipose fat found underneath your skin. The bad fat, or visceral fat, is found surrounding the internal organs, and can lead to a number of health complications.
Obesity
is defined as being severely overweight, or 20% over the ideal weight
according to BMI charts. An individual who is morbidly obese is 100
pounds over the ideal body weight. One must keep in mind when using these
guidelines, however, that muscle mass is greater than fat mass, thus heavily
muscled individuals should not be critique in the same manner. On the same
note, it should thus not be surprising if you see a gain in overall body
weight several weeks into your workout regime. This is a result of losing
fat mass, while gaining denser muscle mass.
Lean Body Mass (LBM)
Lean body mass refers to the combined mass, excluding fat, of your body's tissues and organs. Given that muscle tissue has energy burning potential and adds to skeletal stability, many training programs are designed to develop lean body mass.
Measuring Body Composition
There are a number of approaches to measuring body composition. Unfortunately, like most precise and accurate fitness tests, those for body composition such as underwater weighing can be quite costly and require specialized equipment. The following lists some of the more common and accessible methods to measure body composition:
- Skinfold Measurements use calipers to determine the
thickness of fat found at certain parts of your body. This
article offers an excellent description of sites to make skinfold
measurements and a handy
calculator to estimate your percentage body fat.
- Girth Measurements use measuring tape to find the
circumference of various body parts, including the chest, waist and
hips. These measurements would help indicate areas that are decreasing
or increasing in size. However, note that any gains in fat or muscle
cannot be distinguished alone by size.
- Body Mass Index (BMI): A separate page has been
dedicated to discussing Body Mass Index.
- Waist to Hip Ratio: this measurement offers an approximate analysis of your health risk according to the circumferences of your waist and hip. To find where you stand, use the following formula and match the result with the appropriate category on the table. Alternatively, you can just use the WHR calculator further below:
Ratio = Waist Circumference / Hip Circumference
| Risk Classification | Male | Female |
| High Risk | > 1.0 | > 0.85 |
| Moderate Risk | 0.90-1.0 | 0.80 - 0.85 |
| Low Risk | < 0.90 | < 0.80 |
Related Pages:
Nutritional Info: Fats - Shed some misconceptions about fat and learn it's role in your fitness.
Body Weight Management - Find out how to mantain a healthy body through a combination of proper eating and physical activity.
Training the Energy Systems - Learn how your body metabolizes various types of energy sources depending on the type of exercise you do.
