Couldn't find the post, but somebody recently mentioned a BodPod for measuring bodyfat. Having been at the gym for over a year now I don't consider myself a newbie in the gym. I get comments about weight I've lost from people regularly now. And I've wanted to know my bodyfat % for a while. I haven't done calipers or testing previous to this. Just looked at pictures to see where I thought I was. I was guessing I was at 22% based on abs and vascularity. I want the veins in the biceps. Don't have them yet.

I went to a local university for a bodyfat test yesterday. The recent post about the BodPod got me looking, and if you're in a decent-size city you most likely have access to a health-care provider or wholistic/organic health fitness company or some university with a BodPod available to the public. Cost was $45 for a one-time test. They also offer the DexaScan option at this university, but it would have been $125 to sign up for that. It is a more in-depth scan, supposedly more accurate as far as body composition goes. But it is typically used for bone density issues or more in depth studies ... something more in depth that just getting a bodyfat % number.

So I signed up for the BodPod. $45 cash. Got some compression shorts. Don't eat/drink for two hours before the test. Show up. BodPod isn't calibrating correctly. Hardware problems. So the guy running the machine offers to DexaScan me for the $45. I just want a number, so I say sure.

BodPod takes just a few minutes ... maybe 5 or less (still haven't done one). DexaScan was about 8 minutes. Get undressed; lay down; basically an 8 minute x-ray/scan; get dressed. And he's got a print-out ready for me. That simple. 18%. The DexaScan tells me I carry more fat in the upper areas as opposed to in the trunk. Well, yeah ... I knew that. I've dropped jeans sizes three times now over the past year. BodPod wouldn't tell you that info. It would just give you a % number. And you don't have to lay still for 8 minutes.

My story ... I am 38yo, 6'2" 187lb now. I was active in college. Weighed about 170lb. Never touched a bar until Dec 2016. Looking at pictures from those days, I look sickly thin. Ate a ton, played soccer, walked everywhere, played racquetball, played basketball. Got out of college in 2001, got a job programming, got married, had kids. Got married basically right out of college; had kids right away. Five kids now - oldest is 14yo; youngest is 6yo. I played racquetball on and off. Tore my ACL playing about 10 years ago. The eating a ton and the desk job eventually took its toll as I got into my thirties; everybody said eating half a dozen donuts at the office on Friday would catch up to me. Guess they were right. Over the 15 years since getting out of college I would try to stay in the same pants until they were really uncomfortable. Then I'd buy more pants and tell myself don't get any bigger. Most I weighed on a scale was 230lb. Didn't like taking my shirt off at the beach. Got a swim shirt and told myself it was so I didn't have to deal with the hassle of sun screen. BS. I've got some good internal BS shovels ... really good a throwing that stuff around. I found MRP somewhere around November 2016 if I remember correctly. I joined a gym December 2016. Played racqutball 2-3 times a week; hit the gym 2-3 times a week. Started with Stronglifts 5x5 and just checked the boxes on the app. I was a checkbox guy ... still am in a lot of ways. Used FitnessPal on my phone to track calories. At first, it was just calories. I ate whatever I wanted until I hit my limit. If I ate half a dozen donuts on Friday at the office, then I didn't eat much for supper. As the gym got harder and I wanted to hit certain lifts and see certain results I started choosing protien much more often. I regularly crock pot and shred chicken thighs or a pork rost or a beef roast over the weekend now to take to the office during the week just to have some protien readily available. If it's available without work/hassle I'll choose it.

Bicycle injury last August. Daughter and I were biking, and I went over the handlebars. Daughter will never unsee her father's legs sticking straight up in the air over his handlebars. Probably both some good and bad in there. But we laugh. Helmet saved the head; took a small chunk out of the helmet. But injured some nerves in my neck/shoulder; numbness comes and goes in that whole arm at times. Did physical therapy; did chiropractor; did masssage. Had some tests done. Problem went away slowly as the nerve healed. Stayed away from benching and pressing for about 2 months Aug-Oct or so. Re-aggravated the nerve issue early March playing disc golf. Threw a back-hand too hard and felt something tweak; felt the familiar numbness. Currently staying away from pressing and arm exercises to try and get the nerve issue to settle down again. Staying away from racquetball as well. Picked up boxing with my son about 3 weeks ago. Currently, my schedule looks like gym 3 times a week, boxing 2 times a week.

Since December 2016 I started with just the bar on all the exercises. Currently, my squat PR is 315lb for 3 reps. I recently switched to a 5/3/1 app on my phone, and we'll see where that gets me. With the arm/shoulder problems I am focusing on the squat still. Deadlifts make the numbness come on heavy. So I stopped that, too. I do flys on a machine since I don't bench or press for now. Most I've ever benched was 140 for 5x5 before my bike accident. Goal is to bench my body weight.

There were two times where I upped my calorie goal on my FitnessPal app to the "maintain weight" setting. When I was benching and was struggling to make progress and when I wanted to make a push to hit 3 plates (315lb) on the squat. I have had it set to lose half a pound a week since I started using it. It has me eating about 2k calories a day to do that. I don't have a scale, but I enter things religously. If I eat something I enter it. If I grab the milk after a workout, I enter it. Only time I don't enter it is if I'm on vacation. With the injuries I am back to a deficit.

And I walk a lot. I walk at the local university for my own personal head-space/health. Self-care is what I call it. But it also burns fat. I'll smoke a cigar and listen to music to clear my head when I'm walking. Or I'll talk on the phone with my brother or other friends while I walk. On average I walk for 45 minutes about 2-3 times a week. This isn't planned/scheduled like the gym is. This is me getting out and clearing my head; this is me heading out when the wife wants to just sit and watch TV. It's normally after the kids are in bed, and I find it a great way to clear my head and get back a positive mindset.

So ... 18%. I had already decided if I was over 20% that I would take steps to get down to 17-18% in 90 days. Calorie deficit, exercise without tracking that exercise in the app. But I'm already there. The boxing will drive it down more, as I don't track that exercise in the app. I did track the racquetball, so I would eat a ton on those days and still stay within my goal for the day. For now, I'm upping the squat numbers, working the flys, doing ab work, and some other accessory exercises. When my arm/shoulder settles in I hope to hit the biceps hard again and start pressing again. Then I'll set goals for those and up my calories to hit those goals more quickly. I'll probably do a test with the BodPod in about a year or so once I'm hitting the goals I have in the gym and ready to make new ones.

There's my experience. Guys swapping notes. $45 is fairly cheap for a number that is such a huge indicator of progress. Do a google search or try this website for the BodPod [http://www.cosmed.com/en/contact-us/test-site-locator]. My test location is not on this list, so you may find one closer to you that's not on this list as well.