Ingredients:FatTrack Digital Body Fat Caliper Autographed:No Memorabilia:No Number Of Items:1 Size:1 pckt Shipping Weight (lbs):0.3 Dimensions (in):5 x 5 x 5 Legal Disclaimer:This information is intended for your general knowledge only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice or treatment for specific medical conditions. This information is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. Always seek the advice of your qualified physician or other health care provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard or delay in seeking medical advice.
Product Description Recommended by Men's Journal, Muscular Development, Oxygen, Physical, Shape, Ironman, Muscle & Fitness Hers, Max Sports & Fitness, American Health and Fitness, IDEA Personal Trainer, and Natural Muscle magazines. Also recommended by the World Natural Bodybuilding Federation, the FatTrack II meets the stringent requirements of weightlifters, bodybuilders, and powerlifters. Also, testosterone.net, in its May 2001 review called the FatTrack II "one quality little machine...and best of all, it's accurate!". AND, in Muscle Media's (EAS) July/August Insider column, they said "our new favorite gadget is the FatTrack II...a hit with the editorial staff...palm size dynamo." You can even read why a former EAS Body-for-LIFE champion loves the new FatTrack II! Whether you are in the Body-for-LIFE challenge, a competitive lifter, personal trainer, or just trying to monitor your body fat to maintain great health, the FatTrack II gives you the do-it-yourself ease and accuracy expected from expensive medical devices. The Fat Track Gold is a combination of the FatTrack Digital Body Fat Caliper and the MyoTape Body Tape Measure! The FatTrack Digital Body Fat Caliper with MyoTape enables a user to measure and track body fat percentage by oneself - easily and accurately.
Works Perfectly if you are Detail OrientedApril 20, 2008 Lisa Shea 59 out of 59 found this review helpful
Back in the old days before they had scales and hand-held devices to measure your body fat percentage, you actually had to "pinch your skin" to figure out your body fat. Maybe you remember this from grade school? You can still do that if you want to! Here is a digital caliper, the Fat Track II.
First, how a caliper works in general. You pinch a portion of your skin up away from your body. The three locations are your thigh, your abdomen, and then an "upper area". For men the upper area is the chest. For women (for sort of obvious reasons) it has to be somewhere else, so they go with the back of their arm. This gives a general overall body fat measurement.
How can this work? Fat tends to line the inside of your skin. For example, that is why people who were obesely overweight, who then drop down to only "overweight" have "pouches". It is because they still have fat inside their skin and that fat is pulling the skin down. If you watch The Biggest Loser, you know that if you really do lose that fat, your skin tones up. You lose the pouch. The caliper is measuring the thickness of that fat layer against your skin.
The downside of this technique is it can be VERY hard to learn how to do. You have to pinch the skin in just the right spot to get it to fold. You have to measure that exact same spot each day, to keep the results consistent! If you measure one location one day, and another location the next, you aren't measuring apples to apples.
Plus if you are very overweight it might simply be hard to get the skin to pull out and fold. It might be tight against the underlying fat.
However, the only "real" test that is 100% accurate is to go to a health club with an underwater scale. You submerge your entire body (including your head) underwater and weigh yourself there. Since fat, muscle etc. has different densities, this guarantees that the scale can determine how much is fat. Most of us can't afford to do that!
How does this compare with the electrical current systems? The upside for the electrical current stand-on scales and hand-held measurers is that that they require no skill. You stand on it or hold it and your fat number is provided. The downside is that, since it involves an electrical current, your body needs to be conductive. If your feet are too wet, or lotioned, or too dry, the current won't conduct properly. Some people try those scales dripping wet or bone dry and then complain they don't work properly. Also, those scales tend to be expensive.
So this caliper has the advantage of being relatively cheap, and second only to the full submission technique in its POTENTIAL for accuracy. However, if you aren't good at measuring in the exact spot - or doing it with the right technique - it *cannot* be accurate. A system designed to measure fat at the upper thigh isn't going to work if you're using it on your lower thigh. A system designed to measure skin fold fat isn't going to work if you're using it on your muscle. So there is a LOT of room here for human error.
That all being said - if you take the time to learn about the areas you're measuring, and pay CLOSE attention to the spots you use, and are precise about how you fold, this can work amazingly well! In that sense, everything is far more "under your control" than with an electronic scale. The caliper is small and fits in your purse. It's cheap. It's very reliable and reproducible.
So in terms of potential and doing what it should, I give this a 5/5. But as a caveat - if you know you're just not a precise person, and won't pay that much attention to the details - I'd say buy a scale. The scale is FAR easier for most people, and is very accurate. Just have your feet medium moist and lotion free when you stand on it. Either way you should have SOME fat measurement device in your home. It is extremely critical in your goal of maintaining a healthy weight to know not just your "raw weight" but also how much of you is fat.
Not only tracks fat, but can be a motivation sourceMay 1, 2005 W. Hill(New England) 33 out of 38 found this review helpful
No guessing or benefit of the doubt here. Exactly and quickly measures body fat for any age and gender. Will track 3 people complete with records. Know your fat % in about a minute. I'm a mid 30's dad who always lifted weights, so with bigger muscles it helped to look "in shape" even when my waist went up to 36". Testing with Fat Track every week was awesome! I went to a 31" Calvin Klein jeans, (working out OF COURSE)still weighing about 200 pounds. How awesome THAT felt! Better than high school, baby! For my wife too! It REALLY helps to see the results a week after you don't exercise and eat that fried seafood dinner, or go nuts with the chocolate fudge! Your fat % goes UP over the next week or so! Get motivation from exercise...you see the results. We lost ours and I'm ordering another one because BOTH of us are gaining weight now without it...that tells me it REALLY makes a difference. (We must lie to ourselves, but Fat Track tells us the horrible-or terrific- truth.)
Very accurate! Very easy to use!February 3, 2005 Lenny Flack(Pittsburgh, PA USA) 10 out of 11 found this review helpful
I read these reviews and wondered how the Bodybuilding Federation could endorse a product that got these bad reviews.
So, I bought one. I love it!
Now, I can see how some people may not have been able to use it effectively, because it only opens a few inches and is probably more for fit people than for heavy people. Bit if you are fit and just want to see how fit, this is the device for you.
I find the results very repeatable. Each of the three measurement sites have been repeatable within 1mm over dozens of trys.
The Myotape is also cool. Use it and mybodycomp.com to get your body fat percentage and see just how close the number is to the number the calipers give you. Amazingly, for me, the number was identical.
Great product! Much better than my body fat scale which gives me double the number that this gives me.
PersonalFitnessZone.com recommends measuring body fat to track weight loss progress!December 31, 2005 Dawn Lloyd(North Carolina) 8 out of 10 found this review helpful
I've tried several types of body fat calipers, and these seem to be the easiest to use, yielding the most accurate results. I always recommend AccuMeasure Body Fat Caliper to folks that are starting a weight loss program since the scale can be so unfriendly at times, especially when a person incorporates strength training into their fitness program (It's true! Muscle *does* weigh more than fat!). The bonus measuring tape is an asset as well since it makes it easier to track the inches that you are losing!
simple and efficientFebruary 20, 2009 J. D. Gunter(Colorado) 3 out of 3 found this review helpful
This is a pretty simple product. Essentially, it is a set of fat calipers that do the calculations for you. For anybody that has used a pair of old school calipers and done the math - this will be especially welcome.
The set comes with instructions and a helpful body fat guide.
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