What Is The Most Accurate Way To Measure Body Fat?

I went on a mission around London to get as many different body fat readings as possible in one day. The goal was to compare all of the results and to discover which method is the most accurate.

» My Podcast - @FirstThingsThrst

[MikeThurston]

To ensure the tests were as fair as they could be, I didn't do any exercise, nor did I eat anything before or inbetween the readings. Only water was consumed throughout the day.

[gregdoucette]

Everyone already knows it’s my Lazer eye vision. Only thing that comes close is the MRI which is too expensive for commercial use.

[UnknownXV]

I think people are misunderstanding body fat %. The problem is, people don't realize how much variance there is between individuals. It's the typical myth that 12% = six pack. No, not really. There are so many factors, like how much training you've put your abs through. This makes a big difference in ab visibility as larger hypertrophied abs can push through more fat and still be visible. Especially when flexing. And then you have body fat storage predisposition. As the DEXA scan revealed for Mike here, he stores a lot of fat in his thighs. I do too. My upper body looks seriously lean, muscularity everywhere, defined six pack; but my lower body is much softer. I'm lucky in that way.

I'd say Mike's upper body is between 12-13%, his lower body is closer to 14-15%. Most people only consider the upper body in their guestimates which is where the confusion comes from.

[ZiLu]

Well I thought I’m around 16% BF but after I saw your results my dreams dissappeared to thin air. Thanks Mike.

[ty]

"I don't think the machine knows I'm an absolute unit". lol true dat

[justinengland]

17.8% with a guy in such great shape... I am worried I am over 70% fat looking at this lol

[grappler]

Very informative. This further shows that most people claiming single digit body fat percentages are full of it. I’m lean enough to have visible abs but I think I’ve only ever dipped below 10% once in my life. It was miserable. I was tired and hungry all the time. My sleep was shit. Definitely not a body fat level you should live at. I’m around 13-15% body fat right now and this isn’t too hard to maintain. More importantly, I’m happy being at this weight. Energy levels are solid. My natural test levels are great.

[Vectal_]

I bought one of them bod pods, stuck it in my living room and just sat there staring out the window at strangers.  There's a lot of protein in eggs so i just decided to fucking live in one, attached some wheels onto that shit and were cruising!!

[acaesthetics]

I think there is alot of misconception about body fat these days in my opinion.People seem to think people are into single digit body fat percentage if they have abs showing and are generally in good shape. Very little people go into single digit body fat percentage unless they are seriously dieting for a competition ect.. Think this video helped alot of people realise that!

[johnsaville]

I've done a lot of body fat assessments on clients and to me the gold standard is the Hydrostatic tank. It would have been very interesting to see how the other measurements compared to underwater submersion. I actually think that the skin-fold assessment was probably pretty close to your upper-body fat % based on how you looked.

[yakudza]

Thank god i dont stress over BF measurements but this experiment is eye opener to many ppl claiming stupid numbers.
Thanks dude for the vid

[maccadees]

Really interesting vid. Very informative as usual. I recently bought one of the cheap sets of scales you mentioned. Having watched this, I feel better about them, knowing that no method is perfect, but at least I can use them as a gauge to track progress over time.

[christopherramon-reid]

Mike, I recently discovered your videos and I’m liking them extremely! Thanks for the diplomatic and informative way you have been sharing your knowledge on health and fitness.

[chris-]

The takeaway is - the absolute number doesn't matter - no matter the method. It's the changes in the number of the chosen method over time and your looks in the mirror as a reference what number is your target. Irrespective of the technology used the number you get is based on a formula to convert the readings into a BF % number based on some generalizations. For example with skinfold calipers my bf% differs by 4 percentage points depending on which one of 8 different combinations of measurement spots I choose.

[pinbota]

Dexa may be accurate but for a body builder the skin fold measurement is the best because it's completely misleading to measure the fat on internal organs or your brain. I only care what's under my skin, nothing else matters.

[TurnOneYeti]

That's 17%?! I'm about to permabulk,

[Andrew-tlgk]

How can you have 15% and look super lean? I estimated you body fat at 10% to be honest. Im like 12%, i guess, and i cant even see my sixpack...

[jamesdaley]

wow, haven't seen you for awhile mike, ,,anyway good to see your still happening ....

[davehodgy]

Liked before I got to the end cos this was a really useful video and good /original idea.

[timryan]

Your lean body weight (LBW) is around 193 pounds (87 kg) and fat weight approximately 10 kg estimating your body fat around 10%. You are currently at your ideal body weight however, in my opinion based on hydration levels and maintenance of LBW you have the ability to reach 7.5% at 208-210 pounds for competitive reasons. Your skin fold measurement was the most accurate estimate you received in a very nice video demonstrating how variable body fat measurements can be with whatever methodology you choose. Nice job.