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From Fellrnr.com, Running tips
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* Skulpt measures up to 24 specific body locations, and it can estimate overall body fat from three measurements on your triceps, abdominals, and quadriceps.
* One reason for having so many electrodes is to pass a current along and across the muscle fibers. This allows the Skulpt to estimate "muscle quality", something that I thought was nonsense until I reviewed the available research. This muscle quality gives a measurement that can detect muscular imbalances, something that can result in injury.
* If you enable "real time scanning" you can move the sensor around, and the app will take the reading that has the highest muscle quality as this is the one that's most directly over the muscle and in the correct position. This isn't obvious from the app, and I'd thought it took the last measurement. This feature means you can move the sensor around freely and the most accurate reading will be used. You mustn't position over the ends of a muscle though, as you could get a higher reading as the muscle merges into the tendon.
* Skulpt doesn't provide any indication of body weight, but by the same token, its estimate of body fat isn't dependent on body weight as an input. This may be one of the reasons Skulpt is as accurate as it is. (I use a Bluetooth scale to give me my weight measurement.)
* Skulpt doesn't use any data about which body part is being measured in its estimate. So, if you measure your quads, it will give the same value even if you tell it you're measuring your triceps. Again, this shows that Skulpt is not tweaking its value based on a muscle specific model or formula.
* Unlike body fat scales, Skulpt has to have wet electrodes to function, so you have to spray the electrodes with water before testing each area. I replaced the tiny spray that comes with Skulpt for a cheap plant sprayer, which works better and doesn't need refilling as often.
* Body hair can make it harder to get a reading, requiring a little more water, but this doesn't seem to effect accuracy (see research below). I've found that spraying the sensor and applying it, then repeating to get a measurement is easier.
* Unlike scales, where you don't have to worry too much about positioning, Skulpt is quite sensitive to location. Of course, this is because changing the Skulpt position changes how much fat it will be over. Some locations are easier to be consistent than others. For instance, it's easy to be consistent on the abdominals, as the naval can be used as a convenient landmark, where it's far harder on the quadriceps. If you enable "real Real time scanning" you can move the sensor around, and the app will take the reading that has the highest muscle quality as solves much of this is the one that's most directly over the muscle and in the correct position. problem (This isn't obvious; I thought it took the last measurementsee above.)
* Like any fat measurement, Skulpt is sensitive to hydration. This is simply because hydration will change body fat percentage directly. If you have 10Kg of body fat and weigh 100 Kg, your fat is 10%. Drink 2 Kg of water and you weigh 102 Kg and have a body fat of 9.8%. I've not noticed any of the problems you get with hydration skewing the body fat measurement more than that.
I've been using the Skulpt for about 3 years, and over that time I found it to be quite useful in assessing my body composition. I periodically do a full body scan, but this is too tedious and time-consuming for me to perform frequently. Given the accuracy shown by the research, I've been using "quick scan" of 3 locations to estimate overall body fat. I combine that information with weight from a Bluetooth scale to calculate lean and fat mass (I created a iPhone shortcut to do the calculation.)
