I am just wondering if anyone has had this done and knows how to interpret the information. When I had it done in the clinic, the technician just went over my stats, as far as where I am in relation to the average woman with respect to overall body fat and bone density. I am just a little unclear how to interpret the results with respect to specific body composition. For example it gave me my %BF and amount of lean body mass for each leg, arm and trunk. Does anybody know how to use that information for improving body composition? For example, the scan said I have 15.5lbs of muscle mass in my right leg and 4.5lbs of muscle in my right arm. I don't know if that is above average or below average, and if I should be trying to build more muscle in these areas or not.
Has anyone used this type of information to build a strength training program based on DEXA results.
at a certain point you need
at a certain point you need to let the numbers go and look at function. After all, you are not a body builder, a Greek statue, or a text book. Where are your weaknesses? Train to those. Are you just wearing those muscles or are you actually using them? How do you use them. I'd say you are better off understanding your movement patterns, and your body on a functional level. In other words, I've never gotten that deep into a DEXA scan and I never intend to as it doesn't mean that much in my opinion.
jnrice wrote:at a certain
[quote=jnrice]at a certain point you need to let the numbers go and look at function. After all, you are not a body builder, a Greek statue, or a text book. Where are your weaknesses? Train to those. Are you just wearing those muscles or are you actually using them? How do you use them. I'd say you are better off understanding your movement patterns, and your body on a functional level. In other words, I've never gotten that deep into a DEXA scan and I never intend to as it doesn't mean that much in my opinion. [/quote]
+1 jnrince.... at a certain point, you just got to go on how you feel/ function. Stats are worthless when they compare you to the "average woman". Heck, you are know you are in the .0001% of woman anyways as a triathlete. The only thing you can compare stats to is yourself overtime. ie... I was at 8%bf 6 months ago and my run splits were 6:15's, and I always felt tired. Today I'm at 9.5% bf and my run splits are 5:45's and I feel great and alive. In this scenario stats would tell me that I'm better at 9.5% bf than at 8% bf. However, using the "average person" stat I would see drops in numbers and be disappointed.
Numbers do lie, but they can be very misleading!