Navy Percent Body Fat Measurement

bsolada

I am just curious if anyone knows how neck measurement plays a role in the Navy test for body fat percentage. When you enter your numbers for waist, neck, and hips it gives you a measurement. But, if you make your neck measurement an inch bigger, your body fat percentage goes down, and vice versa. I would think it would be the opposite. So I am wondering how the neck predicts this, and why it should be larger for low body fat? As we lose fat, do our necks grow? Check it out:

http://fitness.bizcalcs.com/Calculator.asp?Calc=Body-Fat-Navy

ldholcombe

My husband says that since he weighs 186 (6'' tall) no the neck doesnt count but if he weight over 201 then the measure his neck and waist and do a calculation to see what his body fat is. And if its over a certian percent you fail...

Roadie2000

For males, the formula is % body fat = 86.010 x log10(abdomen - neck) - 70.041 x log10(height) + 36.76, and for females, the formula is % body fat = 163.205 x log10(waist + hip - neck) - 97.684 x log10(height) - 78.387

http://usmilitary.about.com/od/theorderlyroom/a/bodyfat.htm

It's more about the ratio of your neck to the rest of your body than the neck itself. How they derived the formula I have no idea, I don't know why they use the neck at all because most people don't gain that much weight there. I guess fitter people will have bigger necks but smaller waists.

clburlison

I personally find that if you really want to know what your % body fat is don't trust a formula. Omron has great accurate and cheap scales to help find out what your real % body fat is.

http://www.amazon.com/Omron-HBF-306C-Loss-Monitor-Black/dp/B000FYZMYK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1310933754&sr=8-1

http://www.amazon.com/Omron-Full-Sensor-Composition-Monitor/dp/B0020MMCDE/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1310933754&sr=8-2