BOD POD®: A Body Composition Assessment
Have you ever wondered what your true body composition is? Are you ready to measure your success with precision? When you get onto the scale, the number that you see is your body’s actual weight; however, that is not a true reflection of the makeup inside your body.
The results from a BOD POD assessment will give you those real numbers that you are looking for. You will see a true muscle-to-fat ratio and get a better idea of your overall health. Whether your goal is to gain, lose, or maintain, this assessment will give you real and accurate measurements to help you measure your success.
Why It’s Important to Know Your Body Composition
In order to tell your true level of health, you need to know what’s going on inside of you. You can obviously tell when someone is overweight or underweight on the outside; however, we know that looks can be deceiving. Someone may appear on the outside to be on the heavier side, but they may have a significant amount of muscle mass below the surface. When simply measuring using a scale, there is no way to tell the muscle-to-fat composition inside. Knowing these numbers can be helpful to see the potential risk for things like cardiovascular disease. This assessment will give you the real numbers of your body composition and level of health to help you set goals to gain, lose, or maintain your weight and body fat percentage.
How It Works
The BOD POD uses air displacement technology to get your numbers. Imagine this like a bathtub that is half-full of water. If we measured the amount of water in the tub, then you got into it and we measured the amount of change in the water level, we would come up with the water displacement amount. This same thing happens using the BOD POD, just with air volume—and a lot less mess! This measurement is as accurate as hydrostatic measuring! You will also get an estimated resting metabolic rate (RMR). The RMR tells you how many calories your body uses in one day for accurate consumption, no matter what the goal is.
And, if you decide to come back for another test, the system will save and compare your results so that you can see the changes over time. This assessment takes only a short 15 minutes. For most accurate results, be sure not to eat, drink, or exercise 2 to 3 hours prior and wear tight, form-fitting clothing like compression clothes or a swimsuit.
You can see a sample BOD POD report here. Click here to watch a video on how a BOD POD® test is done.
Cost is $45 per test, or 2 for $80 (one BOD POD assessment annually FREE to NIFS members). To schedule your BOD POD, contact the NIFS track desk at 317-274-3432 ext. 262 or fitness@nifs.org.
This blog was written by Amanda Bireline, Fitness Center Manager. To read more about the NIFS bloggers, click here.