by, Janice Marie Ferguson
In the gym, we frequently talk about “forgetting the number on the scale” to our clients. I know this is very difficult for many people to do. For our whole lives, we have valued ourselves based on a number that we see on that scale. So, when I tell someone they need to throw away their scale, or to stop getting on it every day, they often look at me in disbelief.
I need to be a bit more clear when I say this, though. There are some numbers that we actually do care care about at Bandit CrossFit. Unfortunately, most of those numbers are not available on our clients’ home scales. The numbers we monitor and track can only be found on high-tech body composition scanner. Fortunately for our Bandits, we have such a device—an InBody 570.
Three years ago, I had the chance to talk to the doctors and trainers who work with our local Seal team at Stennis. In our time, they highly recommended the InBody over their BodPod or even a DEXA scan. The Inbody is very accurate, within 99%. But, the main reason the Seal doctors and trainers prefer the Inbody is because unlike a BodPod or Dexa, the Inbody can give muscle and fat mass breakdowns on each limb and torso of the human body. This is great for assessing imbalances in our Bandit clients’ movement patterns. This information not only helps us to track body composition changes, but it also helps us to increase our ability to prescribe exercises for our clients that will decrease risk of injury.
Examples of data provided with our InBody 570:
- Total Body Weight
- Total body fat
- Total skeletal muscle mass (and breakdown for each arm, leg, torso)
- Total lean body mass (and breakdown for each arm, leg, torso)
- Percent body fat
- Hydration levels
- Body Mass control (how much fat or muscle needed to be lost or gained)
- Basal Metabolic Rate
- Visceral Fat
- Our clients who scan with us regularly receive a progress chart tracking their data across 8 scans for four different data marks: Weight, Skeletal Muscle Mass, Percent Body Fat, Hydration
I knew I wanted to provide this information to my clients, so I invested in one of these machines for our clients. Since then, we have been providing these scans for our members to help them track their progress.
Meet Marissa. Marissa did a beginner class with us in February of this year, and has made tons of progress with us in her strength and overall fitness since she changed her diet and exercise routines. Marissa has also made impressive gains in her body composition.
Since we see our members every day, and since they look in the mirror at themselves every day, it is hard to notice the slow progress of improving fitness.
But, Marissa’s InBody scans tell us the whole story. Check out her beginning scans:
Then, see five months of progress:
You can see that Marissa only lost 2.5 pounds of total body weight. But, if you look at the breakdown of her muscle and fat mass, you can see a much clearer picture of her progress. She actually lost 8 pounds of fat and gained 4 pounds of muscle mass!!! More muscle mass means that Marissa is not only stronger, fitter, and healthier, but it also means that she can burn more calories throughout the day. This is exactly the kind of progress we are looking for in the gym. And this is the kind of progress that no supplement or quick fix can provide for you. This is daily work and commitment to exercise and nutrition.
If Marissa were relying solely on her bathroom scale, it would be likely that she would be very disappointed with only a two pound decrease in her weight over five months. But, with our InBody scanner, she realizes that all her hard work is really paying off in a big way.
Marissa even took some photos of herself:
If you want to make a change in your fitness, we would love to have you join our upcoming Couch to CrossFit class. See the details here: Bandit CrossFit Couch to CrossFit Program
Or, you can set up a free consult with one of our coaches by contacting Janice Ferguson at janicemarie@banditcrossfit.com, or by calling/texting 228-224-1515.
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