Measuring Muscle Mass Gain

FaunalFantasy

I recently bought a scale that, as I understand it, is able to roughly assess body fat and water as a percentage of overall weight. My question is, from this information, can I monitory my muscle weight? While I would like to loose the fat in my thighs and hips, at this point I am at a perfectly healthy weight, and would like to start focusing muscle gain and not so much on weight loss. If I can't monitor muscle mass by using this scale, how do you track it?

treetz1979

Would like to understand this more too so I am tagging on to this.....people tell me my scale isn't going down because I am gaining muscle with my workout routine, but I don't really understand how one measures muscle vs. fat. on their body.

erickirb

You could, but these scale are notoriously inaccurate and the readings can change based on the amount of food in your system or your hydration level. That being said you can monitor changes and that should be close, even if the % are way off.

erickirb

Would like to understand this more too so I am tagging on to this.....people tell me my scale isn't going down because I am gaining muscle with my workout routine, but I don't really understand how one measures muscle vs. fat. on their body.

The most accurate way is to have Hydrostatic weighing conducted. If you don't have access to this many gyms off the measuring of body fat % using calipers by a trained professional.

mlb929

My dh has a very fancy/expensive body composition scale he uses for high school athletics. It doesn't seem very accurate to me at all. I find the calipers are a better way to go. The main difference is what time of day you use it and level of dehydration which can make a difference.

I have a friend that gave me this example to calculate it - I've only cut and pasted, and a friend in the "fitness" world verified it is mostly accurate. It's only a cut and paste.... so not taking personal responsibility for it - hope it helps.

Let's use "Sally" as an example...

Sally’s first measurements of weight & body fat were:
Weight - 150 pounds / Body fat percentage - 30%.

Sally’s second measurements of weight & body fat were:
Weight - 148 pounds / Body fat percentage - 26%

Here’s how to “translate” the gross weight lost (2 pounds on the scale) into the net pounds of actual fat lost and net pounds of actual muscle gained - get your calculator out!

Multiply 150 by 30% (or .30) ---> 45 (this number represents Sally’s pounds of fat at her first recording of measurements.)
Multiply 148 by 26% (or .26) ---> 38.48 (this number represents Sally’s pounds of fat at her second recording of measurements.)

Subtract 38.48 from 45 ---> 6.52 pounds net loss of fat
Subtract 2 (the difference between gross loss from 150 to 148) from from 6.52 --> 4.52 pounds net gain of muscle

givprayz

If you use your scale under the same conditions each time, ie: before eating or drinking and after emptying your bladder first thing in the morning, then you should see changes in the ratios over time. If your fat percentage drops, or remains stable, but your weight increases, then it is muscle mass. If the fat percentage drops and your weight is stable, that is muscle mass. If your fat remains stable or decreases only slightly, but your weight decreases, then you are losing lean mass.

It is also a good idea to take careful measurements when you are working on muscle building. Do upper and lower arm, true waist and umbilical level, hip, upper and lower thigh, and calf measurements. Taking some pictures will also help reveal changes over time.

More than anything, it is your performance that will tell you if you are successfully building muscle mass. If you get delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) the day after a workout, then you worked those muscles well. If you find it easier to lift the weights over time, and can increase the weight regularly, then you are gaining muscle mass. These measures are better for women, who don't bulk up like men, to assess improvement over time.

bmontgomery87

The scales are extremely off when it comes to bodyfat percentage and water weight in my opinion.