Measuring Your Body Composition

When beginning any type of fitness regimen, the goal is usually to make some sort of progress. Otherwise, what are you putting all that effort into? Measuring progress is important to knowing improvement and providing encouragement to stick with our goals.  How you decide to measure your progress is also very important. You wouldn’t use a thermometer to measure how long it takes you to run a mile, right?
 

We’re going to take a focus on measurements of health and fitness/appearance. Following is a list of a few indicators, their parameters, objectives, and how to use them. Keep in mind that the objectivity of an indicated measurement is defined as the reading’s independence from individual perception. For example, weight is objective in that the scale shows you weight 180 pounds and it will continue to say that regardless of how much you want it to say something different. Another thing to keep in mind is that the accuracy of a measurement is defined as its ability to indicate body composition, for example, the percentage of fat you carry.

Weight – An example of an assumption about weight is that a heavier person has more fat. The scale is very objective, but very inaccurate. How much a person weighs gives no information on that person’s body composition.

Body Mass Index (BMI) – An assumption about BMI is that if two people are the same weight, then the shorter person is fatter. Very similar to weight, BMI is very objective, but not accurate. BMI also gives no information about body composition, and doesn’t take into account whether or not a person has lean mass.

Healthy Lifting for the Fifty and Over Crowd

As we know, our muscles, joints, and bones age the same as we do. This promotes the question if it is safe for people fifty and over to engage in physical activity, such as weight lifting. Research has shown that a toned down lift can slow down the effects of aging and promote good health.

The effect aging has on the body is enormous; including a slower metabolic rate, tissue deterioration, and loss of muscle. Keeping active throughout one’s life has proven to reduce the likelihood of disease and some of harmful effects of aging. Excessive amounts of inactivity, however, induce these effects.

Top 4 Toning Tips for Women

Toning for women is all about creating sleek, strong, well-defined muscles, not the big, bulky muscles men go for. The key to toning is to focus in on whatever individual body part you want to work on. For example, if the under part of your arms is getting saggy, focusing on tricep movements will trim them right up!

-Tip #1 Toning the Thighs/Glut

Toning the lower body region is easier than you may think. The most effective way to focus on this area is while holding free weights (dumbbells), to do lunges. Lunges are very effective because regardless of fitness level, you can control how far down you dip to maintain a level you’re comfortable with and ensure you feel the muscles work. Doing 5 sets of 15-20 reps of lunges each day between laundry or going to the shower is a simple, effective way to tone the lower region of your body.

-Tip #2 Toning the Abdomen/Lower Back

Acquiring lean abs and a muffin-top free lower back requires dedication above all else. There is no magic trick to defining this region of the body, but with consistent work and the correct method, you will see results.