Skinfold calipers

[AtomAnt]

Hi

I'm a newbie to bodybuilding and I'm setting myself some new goals I would like to buy a skinfold caliper to monitor my fat burning progress. Does anyone know where in New Zealand I could purchase one? :pray:

Ants

[Gym rat]

I am wondering about that as well dose any one know where I can buy skinfold calipers at a good price range not to expensive?

[groovy]

found this from google. Not sure if its cheap or how good the quality is.

http://www.bodysupportshop.co.nz/slimguide-skinfold-caliper.php

[tonyb]

I just use visual & finger grab. Maybe engineering calipers will do?

[two_phat]

I had a look a lil while ago - cheapest I found was around $85....that was a lil out of my price range....decided to stick with the mirror.

let me know if you find any cheaper ones!

[GHOSTN]

sorry not from nz but not hard to get if you have credit card

roughly $20nz before postage, can grab a few other things to save on shipping per item, thats what i did. There myotape is also real good for body mesurement and like $8nz

http://www.bodybuilding.com/store/acc/accu.html

[holdenman]

sorry not from nz but not hard to get if you have credit card

roughly $20nz before postage, can grab a few other things to save on shipping per item, thats what i did. There myotape is also real good for body mesurement and like $8nz

http://www.bodybuilding.com/store/acc/accu.html

I just bought some protein from them and got a set of these for free

[Chillicat]

sorry not from nz but not hard to get if you have credit card

roughly $20nz before postage, can grab a few other things to save on shipping per item, thats what i did. There myotape is also real good for body mesurement and like $8nz

http://www.bodybuilding.com/store/acc/accu.html

I just bought some protein from them and got a set of these for free

Yep, same. Spend US$75 or more and you can get some for free. Sounds like a lot - but the savings you make buying through them are very good, even with postage.

[holdenman]

sorry not from nz but not hard to get if you have credit card

roughly $20nz before postage, can grab a few other things to save on shipping per item, thats what i did. There myotape is also real good for body mesurement and like $8nz

http://www.bodybuilding.com/store/acc/accu.html

I just bought some protein from them and got a set of these for free

Yep, same. Spend US$75 or more and you can get some for free. Sounds like a lot - but the savings you make buying through them are very good, even with postage.

:nod: For sure.. I got 10lbs of protein, 1.1kg of creatine and the callipers for less than what the protein costs here. Loving the exchange rate

[PTinCHCH]

prety much waste of time and money.

personally, skinfolds are a bit of a hoax. i mean, they work to a degree, but the accuracy fluctuates like a motherfucker. better off going for the old fashioned measuring tape.

i mean, skinfold tests will give you a ballpark figure of where your at bodyfat wise.

dont bother with them. get a cheap and nasty PT once a year if you just want the skintests, or better yet, hydrostatic body fat testing. how often do you reeeeealy need to know your BF percentages anyways?

as mentioned above, mirror, tape and estimate. cos thats all callipers realy are. estimations.

[two_phat]

how accurate are those hydrostatic measurements though? It was my understanding that the figures could be skewed quite easily...

I just want them to keep track on my progress and goals and the mirror is hard to comparisons week to week - but your right, tape would do the job.

[AtomAnt]

Yeah thanks for all the replies i ended up finding this one

http://www.linear-software.com/shop/pc/ ... category=4

[1day]

prety much waste of time and money.

personally, skinfolds are a bit of a hoax. i mean, they work to a degree, but the accuracy fluctuates like a motherfucker. better off going for the old fashioned measuring tape.

i mean, skinfold tests will give you a ballpark figure of where your at bodyfat wise.

as mentioned above, mirror, tape and estimate. cos thats all callipers realy are. estimations.

i agree hard out :nod: it all depends on the spring in them too, as i have had mine read with 1 set and then 2nd set straight after(same brand just a new'er pair) and came out with completly different bf readings :doh:

[agent86]

You are confusing skinfold calipers with bodyfat percentages. Converting to a percentage from skinfolds is very innacurate but calipers,even cheap ones can be very helpful.

The idea is to measure the worst place and us e it as a baseline. Take 5 or more pinch measurements and see what the most common measurement is.

Even if it is not 100 percent accurate it will give you a guide as to whether you are going in the right direction. You cannot detect small changes by looking in the mirror.

I have used plastic calipers for 10 years and never calculate my percentage but I know at what measurement i need to be to compete.

It is waste of time taking measurements on things like triceps and biceps for men and then using these as part of a total to calculate percentage as these measurements are always low on me.

I measure the same place on my guts and see if i am progressing weekly.

Of course it is how you look in the mirror but sometimes you need an absolute verdict not a subjective one.

You can always get your skinfolds done once a month by a PT with the expensive metal pinchers.

[Rag the Dog]

here are some cheap nasty ones i bought a while back: http://www.bodylab.co.nz/accumeasure/accumeasure.html ... but found they are a bit crap, frontier medical have some better ones at around $80. I have found it difficult to get accurate measures but it is a good general measure if done properly

[Rag the Dog]

found this from google. Not sure if its cheap or how good the quality is.

http://www.bodysupportshop.co.nz/slimguide-skinfold-caliper.php

I think these are 20-30 bucks cheaper at http://www.frontmed.co.nz

[cantygirl]

Hi

I'm a newbie to bodybuilding and I'm setting myself some new goals I would like to buy a skinfold caliper to monitor my fat burning progress. Does anyone know where in New Zealand I could purchase one? :pray:

Ants

I have seen them at Gymeez in Christchurch but im pretty sure most sports specialist stores would be able to get them for you. Better still, check trade me

[HumanPerformance]

Personally I only use Skyndex professional calipers-

http://www.healthchecksystems.com/skynd ... lipers.htm

You can program them to whatever system you like to use (i use jackson and pollack) and it calculates in all for you. I imported them myself and all up costs around 800$. But they are amazingly consistant. As mentioned earlier, normal versions that are used in gyms lose there accuracy quickly as the springs on them become loser and loser.

Hydostatic weighing isnt as accurate as they first thought it was as it is hard to calculate exactly how much air is in each persons lungs. And also different populations have been shown to have alot denser bones (pacific islanders in particular) and therefore heavier bones, thus throwing of the readings.

If you want true accuracy the university of auckland performs DEXA (dual energy X-ray absorptiometry) full body scans. I have seen the read outs from these and they are absolutely mindblowing. They tell you for example how much muscle and fat you have in your left arm or right leg (down to the gram) and wether you have an androgenic or estrogenic bodyfat distribution. My partner got one done for free as she is part of a 30 year study being done at the university, so im not sure how much it costs but I would guess 1000$ or more.

[DeeDuub]

im wanting to buy one..

do pharmacys sell them?warehouse ? clinics?

Im in central auckland so can go anywhere in the CBD etc ..or plazas etc

please help..ive lost alota belly fat but u know..its just NEVER going now... despite intense weights and HIIT training

thanks