Taken A Hydrostatic Body Fat Test
“I’m not fat, I’m big boned.”
--Eric Cartman
Last month, when I wore a weight vest for a day to feel what the old, heavy me had to carry around, I talked a little bit about how I don’t love the Body Mass Index (BMI) or pure poundage as a measurement of health or fitness because it doesn’t account for muscle mass. J and I had always wanted to get dipped in water to measure our fat content (based on buoyancy). So I looked up different companies that did it, and I made reservation for it.
The company I found is called Fitness Wave, and they have a truck that parks around the Bay Area and conducts these tests.
J’s appointment was at 9:20am and mine was at 9:40am. We ended up swapping, so she could once again be the official photographer. There was a quick one sheet to fill out before the test.
The test is given in a tub inside the truck. I wore swim trunks and changed for the test.
I asked if the water was cold, and the gentleman that runs the truck, Aeron, told me it was freezing. I hopped in.
It turns out that Aeron lied. The water was warm. He instructed me to go face down into the tub.
There was a metal frame on the bottom with markers for where my hands go.
Aeron wrapped the red wires connected to the frame around me. I was trapped with nowhere to go but underwater.
He instructed me to blow out all the breath I had underwater, and when I was done, come back up to breathe again. I repeated that process three times.
After that, it was over. It was very quick. I got out, and he gave me my towel.
I dried off, got dressed, J got her test done, and Aeron explained our results to us. I had written on my paperwork that I wanted to get down to about 165 lbs., so the "goal" numbers below just reflect my goals. The "ideal" numbers are based on fitness body fat charts.
Hydrostatic Evaluation:
Body Fat %: 13.9%
Lean Body Mass %: 86.1%
Ideal Body Fat %: 15%
Goal Body Fat %: 9%
Fat Body Mass: 24.5 lbs.
Lean Body Mass: 151.7 lbs.
Weight for Ideal: 178.5 lbs.
Weight for Goal: 166.7 lbs.
This was a very nice experience. It was easy, pain-free, and totally informative. I’m not entirely sure what I’ll do with this information besides try to lower the fat mass a little more, but it was really cool to finally try out this service. J took video of me getting dunked.
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