year without reevaluating your progress. You don’t want to waste time with
a workout program that’s not getting results.How Much of You Is Fat? ..............................................................................
During your evaluation, your tester will probably weigh you. Just know
that your weight is of limited value. When you hop on a scale, you learn the
grand total weight of your bones, organs, blood, fat, muscle, and other tissues.
This number can be misleading because muscle weighs more per square inch
than fat.Consider two men who stand 5'8" and weigh 190 pounds. One guy may be a
lean bodybuilder who has a lot of muscle packed onto his frame. Another guy
may be a couch potato whose gut hangs 4 inches over his belt buckle. Even a
low weight doesn’t necessarily indicate good health or fitness. It may simply
mean that you have small bones and little muscle.More helpful than your body weight is your body composition— how much
of your body is composed of fat and how much is composed of everything
else. Your body composition is also called your body-fat percentage. If you
score a 25 percent on a fat test, this means that 25 percent of your weight is
composed of fat.Like your weight, your body-fat percentage is not necessarily a measure of
your health. True, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and certain cancers are
more prevalent among overweight people — men who have more than about
20 percent body fat and women who have more than about 30 percent body
fat. However, some researchers believe that these health problems are not
caused by the extra fat itself but rather by a lack of exercise and a poor diet.
In other words, if you exercise regularly and eat well, extra body fat may not
compromise your health. So consider your body-fat score in a context with
other health measures, such as your cholesterol levels, blood pressure, and
other gauges of fitness, such as a submaximal test and your resting heart rate.An additional number to consider is the circumference of your waist. Excess
abdominal fat — the type that lies deep in your belly, clumped around your
organs — is linked to increased risk for heart disease. Heavy thighs, on the
other hand, do not appear to be related to health problems. (In other words —
to use terms we can all relate to — a beer belly is more harmful to your health
than saddlebags.) Men with waist measurements greater than 40 and women
with waist measurements greater than 35 should consult a physician.Although body fat testing has its limits, your results can give you great
insight into how your fat-loss and exercise program is coming along. Sure,
your scale can tell you that you lost 7 pounds. But a body-fat test can tell you
that your 7-pound loss means that you lost 10 pounds of fat and gained 3
pounds of muscle, results that are probably more motivating.Chapter 2: Testing Your Fitness 19