A Weighted Discussion

In my last rant I touched on how quick fix diet companies win by getting you to use their processed food replacement products and step on a scale.

This public service announcement is focused on how easy it is to believe health is being achieved. When in fact it isn't. The scale is incredibly good at lying to people about their level of health. 

I'm aware of the latest and greatest scales on the market, ones able to spit out a slew of numbers. This is meant for folks unaware of what some of those numbers are as well as people who don't have a fancy shmancy super scale. It's meant to show how the scale (the old fashioned ones) can be extremely deceptive. It could keep you from your goals for a very long time.

Wait...

"Scale weight? Isn't weight just weight?"

No. Absolutely not. 

There are different forms of mass that create the body. Lean tissue mass (organs, bones, and muscle) and fat mass. Organ and bone mass don't change significantly from exposure to properly balanced amounts of whole foods and consistent strength and conditioning practice. So when it comes to measuring healthy progress it's usually assumed changes in lean mass is in the muscles. Yet, fat mass is just that, fat mass.

I always measure clients body fat with the "pinch test." Using millimeter calipers I pinch the same seven areas of the body to measure the thickness of the skin. 

(There are much more accurate methods to measuring body mass such as hydrostatic weighing where you're submerged in water. Pinch tests are simply much more economical and practical.)

These pinch test measurements, COMBINED with, age, height, gender, activity level, AND the scale weight can equate body fat percentage. With this percentage I can track of the numbers that matter to achieving success.

- Scale Weight

- Lean Body Weight

- Fat Weight

- Body Fat Percentage

Why would you want to know these numbers?

Simply watching the scale weight of your body isn't a solid indicator of being healthy but it's the trend for too many people.

Why? Remember all that jazz earlier? 

Watch this.

A person at 195lbs with 10% body fat holds only 19.5lbs of fat making their lean mass 175.5lbs. If you look at the same 195lbs person but now with 35% body, the differences are abundantly clear. 

You see, these numbers matter. They matter when it comes to making a true healthy change. A change that makes people around you stop dead in their tracks and ask, "What the hell did you do? How? You look great!"

Or, "Daaaaaaaaaamn!"

So if you continue to think that jumping on an elliptical or treadmill and gassing yourself out. You ought to think again. Too many people believe long bouts of grueling cardio is what it takes to make awesome changes.

Heavy weight lifting and strengthing metabolic sessions is what gets you to burn fat, build muscle, and feel great.

Healthy change requires a long term progressive system like Training For Warriors (TFW), the system I deliver out of Cottage Grove, MN at TFWEastMetro.

"If you work for the system, the system will work for you." - Martin Rooney

In short...

Any questions?