BMI????

BMI is a flawed measurement tool- most researchers in the exercise science field are laughed at for using it now a days. It's like measuring something's length and width by weighing it.

- It doesn't test body composition- there's no differentiation between fat and muscle mass.
- It's simpley a measure of how much mass you have in the area you take up- here's the equation;

Mass(kgs)/ height^2(m^2)

So, aside from the fact that it doesn't measure body composition, it assumes that a) you're as wide as you are tall. b) you're a 2 dimensional object, and c) it takes a 3 dimensional measure (mass) and puts it in area which is two dimension

BMI was originally designed by a health insurance company that was looking to lump people into categories for their premiums. Higher BMI= Higher premium rates. It was not designed to test athletes or individuals.

The first scientific study using BMI compared it to all rate mortaility (death). People that were under weight (BMI of 18 and under) were actually far more likely(1.5- 2 times) to die than people with grossly high BMIs.

The only truly accurate measure of health is the medical measures in a physical with blood work. If your blood pressure, LDL cholesterol, blood triglycerides, or blood sugar is abnormally high then you're at higher risk of dying no matter what a body composition test says.

I stay away from body composition tests and I have a freakin bachelors in exercise science/kinesiology. There's only one truely accurate measure (outside of killing and dissecting you) of body composition; water displacement. And even that can be off by as much 3% body fat either way- if it shows you have 12% body fat, then you know for sure that you're between 9% to 15%. Here's the 95% confidence intervals(95% sure that you're body fat falls within this ragne) for all of the body composition tests-

Electrical Impedance (the scales you stand on or hold)- 10% body fat up or down. It shows you have 12%, you can be 95% sure that you actually fall between 2% and 22%...

Skin Fold- (9 sites) 7% up or down. It says you have 12%, you're really between 5%-19%.

Let me ask you guys something- if you were building a house, would you ever use a tape measure that was off a foot or more each time you measured? Would you use a square that was off by 20 degrees each time you measured?

Yeah, I guess I'm just full of crap and so is the New England Journal of Medicine, the American Journal of Sports Medicine, and the National Strength and Conditioning Association; the three journals where I picked up the information.

BMI was formulated to provide us with a way to compare/measure average people's body compositions. The average person is not a trained athlete and is obese, which makes skin fold testing difficult and inconsistent so BMI is the national standard. I worked in professional baseball and in the corporate fitness world, and I would say that BMI has its place because it is easy to calculate (height/weight) and shouldn't vary from tester to tester like measuring skin folds does.

As far as using it for athletics, I think body fat measurements are better. 3 site Jackson & Pollock protocol is quick is easy to administer.