Why body composition analysis is essential for your health
Making an analysis of the body composition to know it in detail, is essential to monitor health, optimize nutrition and training programs. It is not enough to know the weight: it is essential to understand how fat, muscle and water are distributed in the body.
Indirect Evaluation Methods
- Body Mass Index (BMI): A simple method that calculates the ratio between weight and height, useful to identify overweight or obesity, but not accurate for athletes.
- Plicometry: Measure the thickness of skin folds to estimate the percentage of body fat, economical but dependent on the skill of the operator.
- Bioimpedance (BIA): Measure resistance to the passage of electric current to estimate the percentage of fat and lean mass. It is fast and accessible.
- Circumferential measurements: Waist, hip and arm circumferences provide an estimate of changes in body composition.
- DXA densitometry: The most accurate, but expensive method of measuring fat, muscle and bone density.
Why it is important to know
- Health: Reducing excessive body fat prevents metabolic diseases such as diabetes.
- Nutritional Plan: Knowing the composition helps to create a suitable diet, promoting muscle growth and fat reduction.
- Personalized Training: An optimized body composition allows you to choose the most suitable workout, both to lose fat and to increase muscle mass.
Monitoring body composition allows you to track real progress and improve the effectiveness of workouts and diet plans.
Understanding your body composition is the key to optimizing health, diet and training with hard data.
Simone Ricciardi
