Maintaining healthy body composition is crucial to reducing the impact of chronic disease. Although many people are preoccupied with weight, body composition is far more important. North Americans spend billions each year on fad diets and exercise gadgets without even knowing what their goal ought to be.
As you age, your body naturally loses muscle at a rate of about 1 to 2% per year. This process is called sarcopenia and it is correlated with all of the conditions associated with aging. Between the ages of 15 and 25, the average individual loses about 15 pounds of muscle and gains about 30 pounds of fat. While a net gain of 15 pounds may not seem like much, this shift in body composition has a profound impact on your overall health.
The good news is that this process can be reversed. Resistance training helps restore strength and muscle mass, boosts metabolism, and ensures that any weight you lose is fat rather than muscle. Without it, dieting can result in significant muscle loss and accelerated aging. Thinness simply means you weigh less, whereas leanness indicates an increase in lean muscle tissue.
Some lean people actually weigh more than their “tabled” ideal body weight, but more muscle and less fat significantly reduces health risks and improves functional performance. The technique we use to assess body composition is called bioelectrical impedance. An electrical current is passed through the body from one extremity to the other (foot and hand). The amount of resistance to the current flow is inversely related to the amount of fat-free or lean mass. Lean mass is a good conductor of electricity and fat mass is a poor conductor. For adults 18–29 years old, standard percent body fat values are as follows:
|
|
% Bodyfat in Women
|
% Bodyfat in
Men
|
|
Very Low
|
<16
|
<11
|
|
Low
|
16-19
|
11-13
|
|
Average
|
20-28
|
14-20
|
|
Moderately High
|
29-31
|
21-23
|
|
High
|
>31
|
>23
|
|
|
|
|
The accuracy of the BIA in determining body fat percentage is within approximately 3.5–5%. However, eating, drinking and exercising within a certain number of hours of the test can affect the results.
Body composition is an integral component of total health and physical fitness. As health and fitness practitioners, we teach our clients about the desirable degree of body fat and the importance of maintaining muscle. Improving your body composition will reduce your risk of a number of diseases, including coronary heart disease, diabetes, hypertension and musculoskeletal problems, or help you manage or overcome these conditions. Body composition evaluation is an important first step to strengthen your health.
Call Richland at 509-375-1015 to learn more about our complete fitness assessment, including body composition analysis.
If you’re ready for the next step, now is a great time to begin your transformation to a leaner, healthier body.
