TLC Offers New Body Composition Screening Services
The Lifestyle Center offers new screening services to determine body composition
In physical fitness, body composition is used to describe the percentages
of fat, bone, water, and muscle in human bodies. Because muscular tissue
takes up less space in our body than fat tissue, our body composition,
as well as our weight, determines leanness. Two people of same sex and
body weight may look completely different from each other because they
have a different body composition.
The Lifestyle Center (TLC) offers several different types of screenings
to determine body composition for members and non-members, as well as
programs and personal trainers to help them reach their individual goals.
The first instrument that can be used is a skinfold caliper. Three, four,
or seven site skinfold measurements are taken with a caliper to determine
your percent body fat and lean mass. The principle behind skinfold measurement
is that the amount of subcutaneous fat is proportional to the total amount
of body fat.
The next service is TLC’s new BodyMetrix™ ultrasound system
that can calculate body fat percentage using the same anatomical sites
used in traditional caliper tests. However, the ultrasound is able to
penetrate both superficial and deep adipose tissue layers giving you a
more accurate reading than traditional caliper tests.
TLC is now home to a new FLOATAWEIGH™ hydrostatic weighing system
that utilizes the Archimedes’ principle, which states that (1) a
body displaces a volume of water equal to the volume of the body, and
(2) the decrease in the weight of a body when immersed in water is equal
to the weight of the displaced water. Density of fat is less than that
of water and contributes to the buoyancy force. Density of bone and muscle
tissue is greater than that of water and will cause a person to sink or
be heavier in water. So, a person having more bone and muscle mass and
less fat will weigh more in water, which means a lower percent body fat.
Hydrostatic weighing is offered on the first Saturday of the month from 8am-12pm.
The Lifestyle Center is located at 5105 W Cypress Avenue in Visalia. For
more information on fees or benefits of each screening service, please
contact the Exercise Physiology department at The Lifestyle Center at
(559) 624-3450.