How To Take Accurate Skinfold Measurements

by JP – Updated: 09/24/2016

Page Contents

• 1 The Seven Skinfold Sites
• 2 Five Tips For Accurate, Consistent Measurements
• 3 The Body Fat Percentage Formulas
  • 3.1 Body Fat Percentage Formula for Men
  • 3.2 Bady Fat Percentage Formula for Women
• 4 The tough part is the skinfold measurements…

The first thing you will need to take skinfold measurements is skinfold calipers (body fat calipers).

There are fancy models out there, but in my opinion you are just fine with the cheaper models.

AccuFitness (Accu-Measure) is a leading supplier and offer a simple little plastic caliper called the Fitness 3000. It is easy to use with a nice sliding scale and click feature to let you know when to get your reading (excellent for improving the reliability of the measurement).

Fitness 3000 Body Fat Calipers

At Amazon, you should be able to find the Fitness 3000 for less than $10. Also, keep in mind that you want to complete your body composition tracking program with body tape measurements. For this, you need a flexible tape and you will find it easy to get a Accufitness Myotape (an excellent product) thrown in with your skinfold caliper purchase (Fitness 3000 and MyoTape Package).

The Seven Skinfold Sites

If you don’t have a partner and are not freakishly flexible, you will not be able to get to all the 7 skinfold sites shown and listed below.

That’s okay, men can just do 3 sites – chest, abdominal, and thigh. Women can also get a good body fat estimation with three sites – triceps, suprailiac, and thigh – but the triceps will be tough without a partner.

The Sites…

• Chest – For men, get a diagonal pinch half way between the armpit and the nipple. Women need a diagonal pinch 1/3 of the way from the arm pit to the nipple.
• Midaxillary – A vertical pinch on the midaxillary line which runs directly down from the center of the armpit. Raise your arm above your head and have your partner get these skinfold measurements just below the level of your nipple.
• Subprailiac – A diagonal pinch just above the front forward protrusion of the hip bone.
• Abdominal – A vertical pinch about one inch from your belly button.
• Thigh – A vertical pinch halfway between the knee and top of the thigh.
• Triceps – A vertical pinch halfway between the shoulder and the elbow.
• Subscapular – A diagonal pinch directly below the shoulder blade.

Five Tips For Accurate, Consistent Measurements

• Take your skinfold measurements while standing.
• Take all skinfold measurements on the same side of the body. Preferably the right side.

• Pinch between your forefinger and thumb. Pinch deep enough to get the fat (you are looking for a double-thick pinch of skin) but not so deep that you start pulling muscle up. Pulling muscle up is pretty much impossible so don’t let it concern you all that much. With the skinfold in hand, you need to pinch hard to get the water out, hard enough that you cause minor discomfort.
• Place the body fat calipers less than 1/2 inch from your pinch, midway between the crest and the base.
• For each of the skinfold sites, take three measurements and use the average of those three. But don’t take the three measurements consecutively, instead run through all the sites three times. This will allow the skin to regroup between skinfold measurements. It will also help you develop some consistency.

Consistency is the key. If you are having a friend take your measurements, which is the ideal thing to do, have that same friend take your skinfold measurements every time. If you have different people take your measurements, expect the results to be all over the place and basically useless.

The Body Fat Percentage Formulas

To get an overall number to use as your body fat percentage, you will need to plug your numbers into a formula. With your skinfold measurements in hand, check out the Guide’s online body fat percentage calculator. It will not only give you your body fat percentage but your lean body mass as well.

The most commonly used equations for body fat calculations based on skinfold measurements are based on Jackson-Pollock’s equation for bone density and Siri’s formula to get body fat percentage from that:

Body Fat Percentage Formula for Men

Seven Skinfold Sites (all 7 sites from above, SUM7 is the sum of all the measurements in mm)

Three Skinfold Sites (Chest, Abdominal, and Thigh sites from above, SUM3 is the sum of these sites in mm)

Bady Fat Percentage Formula for Women

Seven Skinfold Sites (all 7 sites from above, SUM7 is the sum of all the measurements in mm)

Three Skinfold Sites (Triceps, Suprailiac, and Thigh sites from above, SUM3 is the sum of these sites in mm)

If these equations look like a fun Saturday afternoon to you, have at them. Otherwise just go to the Body Fat Calculator.

Or better yet, get a software program that will do the calculations and keep track of your results for you. Doing so will be a wise investment (several of the top bodybuilding programs have good ones as part of their package and there are others available separately).

The tough part is the skinfold measurements…

With your body fat percentage in hand, you are only a small and simple step away from getting your Lean Body Mass (LBM) number (and the calculator will give that to you as well).

LBM is based on your body fat percentage and your weight. Multiply your body fat percentage by your weight and you have a quick estimate of how many pounds of fat you are toting around. Subtract that number from your weight and you have your LBM.

Check out the Lean Body Mass (LBM) page for more on the importance of this number and how to use it to help guide your program.

The Get Big Ezine

I agree to have my personal information transfered to AWeber ( more information )

We hate spam. Your email address will not be sold or shared with anyone else.