What's your guy's body fat percentage? Since I'm working on getting in to the Guard, I'm using the formula that the DoD uses: % body fat = 86.010 x log10(abdomen - neck) - 70.041 x log10(height) + 36.76

Just guessing for now (can get a better calculation at home), but I'm at about 26%.

Here's what the Army lists for standards:

Age 17-20 - 20%
Age 21-27 - 22%
Age 28-39 - 24%
Age 40+ - 26%

How do you all measure up?

I used the body fat calculator in the mens health website and came up with 27%.

what are the measurements in? inches, cm? cuz mine came out to 13.something and I know that's way low...I'm probably closer to 22% or so.

Inches, just like God intended us to use.

Riiight...

I'm giong to buy a BF % caliper and do it that way, then I'll compare to this formula.

I think this formula works best for people of close to average height the further you get from the middle of the road the less accurate it becomes.

PozzSka - you get the calipers yet? I was looking at the formula, and it seems to me that with using the log of the height, you avoid the problem of too far from the mean.

It's been a while since I posted, and I did get a set of calipers.

My BF % now is about 21.2%. And I now weigh 229. I'm down a total of 76 lbs.

And I did this formula again and it came out 9%. So maybe I'm doing something wrong. But I'm at 21.2%

So what do you think is the best way to measure your body fat ? I read there are all sorts of ways and they might have uncertainties. I am considering to buy something for my home gym but have no idea which is the best.

quote:

Originally posted by Wens:
So what do you think is the best way to measure your body fat ? I read there are all sorts of ways and they might have uncertainties. I am considering to buy something for my home gym but have no idea which is the best.

Probably with calipers, but even then a guy can use his imagination and cheat a bit. It is also hard to get some of the measurements, especially for those formulas that ask for some measurements on the back. It is best to get a little help, or go to a gym where they do this fairly often.

Looking at the list, and at me, I'm pretty sure I'm above army standards. At 44 I think I'm at around 20%. But I would like to get an official check done. A few years back I was around 15%, but I was jogging 3-5 miles a day. I had some abs, and you could see my ribs.

But, I had lost a lot of "functional" strength so I cut out the jogging and went back to strength training. One or the other I guess.

Jon