There are many factors that can affect your fitness levels. These can include lifestyle, genetic makeup, muscle tissue, and general health.
Doctors and exercise physiologists can help you determine your fitness levels. However, there are now innovative ways you can understand your own fitness levels yourself.
The Use of Devices
Conventional methods of measuring fitness levels call for the use of bio-electrical impedance analysis devices. These devices measure the amount of body fat related to a person’s lean body mass.
Advanced BIA devices can measure up to 45 parameters that a computer will then process to provide a clearer picture of the person’s level of fitness.
Testing Methods
There are also more extensive tests that can measure one’s fitness level, such as the Dual Energy X-ray Absorptiometry.
This technology is what doctors and physiologists consider as the “gold standard” when it comes to analysing body composition. Unfortunately, many of these tests are very impersonal. They can also be expensive.
Medical-grade BIA machines can have a price tag of up to $5,000. Clinics that offer such fitness level measurements can charge up to $40 per session. Those that offer DEXA tests can charge more.
Portable Equipment
The good news is that there are now palm-sized devices that one can purchase at a fraction of the cost of a BIA machine. These portable devices are also very easy to use and they can provide you with a clear picture of your fitness level.
These BIA devices can provide you with an accuracy of 94% when compared to the DEXA index. Portable BIA devices utilise segmental analysis in making accurate determinations of any imbalance in the body.
They can perform different scans of up to 5 cross-sections of the human body. This delivers a more precise determination of your fitness level, while also ensuring a more holistic analysis of the body.
These gadgets also employ multi-frequency measurements. It helps address some of the drawbacks of using conventional BIA machines that can give false readings.
These innovations give the device the ability to assess the water mass in both inside the cell and outside the cell. It accounts for any discrepancy that one may observe secondary to hydration levels.
The best part of these portable body analysing devices is that they already feature a companion application. You can install the app in your smartphone, computer, or tablet.
This way, you can gain insight into the different parameters of your fitness level. You can track your fitness progress and achievement. You will also receive a very comprehensive overview of your body composition.
Modern body analysing devices provide more than body mass and weight information. They can give you insights on your dry lean mass, visceral fat, body imbalances, and basal metabolic rate.
It does not matter if you want to build muscle mass, lose weight, or to simply understand your body in a more accurate manner. These body analysing devices make it easy to achieve your fitness goals. They let you obtain a better understanding of your fitness levels so you will know how best to modify your fitness regimen.