Yay Toys!!

While in the gym yesterday, I came across one of those hand-held 'electronical' BMI/Body Fat Calculators and so naturally, I had to play with the damn thing. Basically, you enter your height, weight, age, and sex grab on to the metal plates and sit back while it sends a (arguably minuscule) jolt of electricity through your chest cavity. Based upon the time it takes to cook your innards and the amount of bacon grease that collects in your abdomen, it is able to calculate your BMI and Percent Body Fat.

Interestingly enough, my % Fat came out to 12.5% putting me in the high end of the 'Athlete' range whereas my BMI came in at 25.1 putting me in the low end of 'Chunky Monkey.' I don't really put much stock in this stuff and instead tend to focus more on how I feel and how I perform on the field, but what the hell ... another interesting personal statistic to track. Either way (stat-based or feeling-based) I've got work to do this off-season. What else is new.

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some charts for future reference:

Chart 1. Body Fat Guidelines from American Council on Exercise
Classification | Women (% Fat) | Men (% Fat)
Essential Fat | 10-12% | 2-4%
Athletes | 14-20% | 6-13%
Fitness | 21-24% | 14-17%
Acceptable | 25-31% | 18-25%


Chart 2. BMI
BMI | Weight
Below 18.5 | Underweight
18.5-24.9 | Normal
25-29.9 | Overweight
30+ | Obese