Very accurate measurements, but does require some practice.
I participate in fitness competitions so knowing my body composition is crucial to structuring my diet properly and ensuring my training is effective. For the past few years I've had DXA scans or BodPod measurements every 6 months to get a good picture of how I was progressing. After doing a lot of research into using ultrasound for body composition analysis, I decided to try the BodyMetrix. It costs about the same as three DXA scans and I figured if it was even remotely accurate, it would be well worth the investment.<br /><br />=== The equipment ===<br />The BodyMetrix device was surprisingly light but the construction is very good. It comes with a small 2 fluid ounce bottle of ultrasound gel. At the rate I was using gel, I'll probably order a large refill. There are a number of 5 liter containers for about $20 here on Amazon. The software is downloaded from their website so there's no CD provided in the box.<br /><br />=== User profile ===<br />Creating a user profile is a very simple. Entering your name, gender, height, weight, and "Athletic Type" is easy enough. The Mac software didn't allow me to edit any of this after the profile was created, so I had to make a few profiles while I tested to see which Athletic Type gave me the most accurate measurements. Note: The Windows version allows you to manage and delete profiles.<br /><br />=== Single points / body fat calculations ===<br />I quickly learned that getting good images and measurements with the BodyMetrix does require some practice. My first attempt said I was 15.5% body fat, but after practicing spot measurements for about an hour I was able to consistently get estimates of 8.3% which is about what my last DXA scan estimated as well. I recommend using lots of gel and be sure the devices makes good contact at a 90° angle to the skin. Many of my poor measurements were due to being slightly off 90°.<br /><br />The software provides a number of formulae to estimate body composition with varying margins of error. I found the Jackson & Pollock 7-site equation gave me the best estimate. There are new equations being developed and published in scientific/medical journals that I'd like to be able to try, but maybe in a future software update.<br /><br />=== Image scans ===<br />Taking image scans requires a lot more practice. Again, lots of gel and good 90° contact will give you great results. There are a few settings that will need some adjusting in order to get an ideal image:<br /><br />Intensity: Similar to contrast in photos, it makes light areas more white and dark areas more black. This can help in defining interfaces between muscle, fat, and bone. You do lose finer details, though, such as inter-muscular fat distribution.<br /><br />Maximum Thickness: This adjusts how much depth of the scan is shown in the image (10mm - 100mm). Lower thickness means you can see smaller features near the surface and higher thickness shows deeper features but compresses smaller features so they're not visible.<br /><br />Scan Speed: The device creates an image as a series of single slices. Lower scan speeds makes each slice one pixel wide (good for large areas such as the entire quadricep) and higher speeds make the slices about 6 pixels wide (good for small areas such as the bicep). There's some skill required in gauging how fast to move the device relative to the scan speed in order to get a well-proportioned image.<br /><br />=== Summary ===<br />The BodyMetrix was well worth my investment as I found it's accuracy to correlate very strongly with a recent DXA scan. The Mac software isn't as good as it could be, but it does the job. The Windows version is much better - it allows for very fast measurements and more options for data analysis. I highly recommend watching all the videos on IntelaMetrix's YouTube channel as they show exactly how to take all the measurements. Plan to spend a few hours getting a feel for how the device works and you'll be able to take reproducible measurements very easily and consistently.<br /><br />Overall I'm very excited in how the BodyMetrix will help me get into peak condition for upcoming competitions as well as monitoring my progress in the off-season.
Rating: 5 stars