DEXA scan for fat composition accurate?
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DEXA scan for fat composition accurate?
Postby big booty » Wed Oct 12, 2016 4:46 pm
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Re: DEXA scan for fat composition accurate?
Postby Baalzamon » Fri Oct 14, 2016 9:43 am
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Re: DEXA scan for fat composition accurate?
Postby madmacca » Fri Oct 14, 2016 10:04 am
1. Underwater weighing
2. Skinfold calipers (in the hands of a trained operator - amateurs can mess up badly).
3. DEXA scans
4. Bathroom BF scales
5. Online BF calculators
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Re: DEXA scan for fat composition accurate?
Postby big booty » Fri Oct 14, 2016 10:25 am
Baalzamon do you have the link for Jimmy More and his DEXA scan?
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Re: DEXA scan for fat composition accurate?
Postby bigfriendlyvegan » Fri Oct 14, 2016 10:57 am
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1oWcpweTuXs
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Re: DEXA scan for fat composition accurate?
Postby big booty » Fri Oct 14, 2016 1:55 pm
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Re: DEXA scan for fat composition accurate?
Postby TheShadow » Fri Oct 14, 2016 4:56 pm
I really have to question its significance however, or it's worth as an indicator of an optimum power to weight ratio that you can theoretically achieve at a certain weight. I think you learn that best yourself by riding, and experimenting (within reason) with various body weights.
Afaik, you lose fat first off your tricep area, and upper back, and face. Abdominal fat is slower to go and last to go? If you have no love handles left - I mean if you're under age 40 and you can barely scrape together a tiny fold of skin on the side of your waist - there's probably not a huge benefit going lighter than that unless you're in you're in the top 10 at the TDF and you're trying to peak for the hardest Alps stages. I mean, maybe it would help, but there are probably other performance issues that are more beneficial to concentrate on.
In fact, my non-medical opinion is that I suspect going below a 'pinchable amount of waistline', you're just increasing the risk of getting something like chronic fatigue syndrome, or one of those semi-related auto-immune diseases. Or simply getting really tired, or picking up colds and flu too easily.
And I also have to wonder about stuff like bone density issues as you age, which I notice the water-tank guy in the video mentioned. I think retired Pro Chris Boardman has osteoporosis and I can't help but wonder if that is related to spending too many years at very low body fat percentage......or if that is due to some other kind of "medical" issue related to whatever it was his training preparation involved. He doesn't seem to be the only former Pro with hard to understand health issues.
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Re: DEXA scan for fat composition accurate?
Postby big booty » Fri Oct 14, 2016 7:50 pm
Ive had one cold in three years and I have three kids that always bring stuff home from school/uni My wife thinks Im crazy, cold showers summer or winter. Summer isn't too bad, winter is bloody hard work.
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Re: DEXA scan for fat composition accurate?
Postby bobbythebrit » Sun Oct 23, 2016 12:47 am
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Re: DEXA scan for fat composition accurate?
Postby RhapsodyX » Thu Oct 27, 2016 11:26 am
Agree, but variations between machines and modes mix things up (yes - there is published research to back this up). As long as you use the same machine, the error rate should be low and (from memory) it's been shown to be up to 6% for fat mass, and that would only have been valid for one specific DEXA machine. 6% just for fat mass... I can live with that in terms of repeatability.bobbythebrit wrote:I'm just about to graduate from exercise science and DEXA is pretty much the gold standard in terms of body composition measurements. Underwater weighing is great at overall measurements of body comp but DEXA is able to identify how much fat mass is where etc.
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Re: DEXA scan for fat composition accurate?
Postby madmacca » Thu Oct 27, 2016 11:31 am
While there is some evidence of health risks based on where you tend to store fat ("apples" v "pears"), in terms of actionability, there isn't a whole lot of benefit to knowing where fat is being stored (other than reducing overall body fat). You can't spot reduce.bobbythebrit wrote:I'm just about to graduate from exercise science and DEXA is pretty much the gold standard in terms of body composition measurements. Underwater weighing is great at overall measurements of body comp but DEXA is able to identify how much fat mass is where etc.
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Re: DEXA scan for fat composition accurate?
Postby Calvin27 » Thu Oct 27, 2016 12:32 pm
Most accurate would be a series of MRI sections - but this would cost a bomb. When I got my MRI done, I was amazed how much fat my knees could possibly store!madmacca wrote:While there is some evidence of health risks based on where you tend to store fat ("apples" v "pears"), in terms of actionability, there isn't a whole lot of benefit to knowing where fat is being stored (other than reducing overall body fat). You can't spot reduce.
Anyway on where fat is stored and spot reduction. I have a mate who gets fat often and he stores it all around his chest and arms. He actually looks buffed because of it. Amazing.
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Re: DEXA scan for fat composition accurate?
Postby ValleyForge » Thu Oct 27, 2016 4:04 pm
Except with liposuction, cool sculpting or surgery.madmacca wrote:You can't spot reduce.
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Re: DEXA scan for fat composition accurate?
Postby bobbythebrit » Thu Oct 27, 2016 5:49 pm
Yeah 6% is pretty bloody accurate for something so intricate, especially compared with methods such as skin folds etc.RhapsodyX wrote:Agree, but variations between machines and modes mix things up (yes - there is published research to back this up). As long as you use the same machine, the error rate should be low and (from memory) it's been shown to be up to 6% for fat mass, and that would only have been valid for one specific DEXA machine. 6% just for fat mass... I can live with that in terms of repeatability.
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Re: DEXA scan for fat composition accurate?
Postby bobbythebrit » Thu Oct 27, 2016 5:51 pm
There isn't but as you said, if you know the fat is sitting around your abdominal area, you know it's time to do something about it. The biggest problem is that isn't much research at all that has shown that exercise (pretty much in any form) makes you lose weight as a lone strategy.madmacca wrote:While there is some evidence of health risks based on where you tend to store fat ("apples" v "pears"), in terms of actionability, there isn't a whole lot of benefit to knowing where fat is being stored (other than reducing overall body fat). You can't spot reduce.
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