What's the best way of discovering your exact body composition?
Discover DEXA scans and how they can help us accurately track muscle and fat to show the true results of training and nutrition.
What are DEXA scans?
DEXA scanning is considered the Gold Standard of body composition measurement. It's a medical-grade system which uses a special type of x-ray to literally scan your body, bouncing off bone, muscle and fat to give you an accurate (or as accurate as possible, anyway) reading. It's used to measure bone mineral density but bodybuilders love DEXA because it also tells you how much muscle and fat you're carrying - and where, and how much it weighs.
Why is it called a "DEXA" scan?
DEXA is short for "dual energy X-ray absorptiometry" - the type of scanning used when you go under the DEXA machine.
What do DEXA scans tell us?
When you're scanned by a DEXA machine, the results tell you how much of you is muscle mass, what your entire skeleton weighs, how much subcutaneous body fat you're carrying, and even how much visceral fat you've got. There's no hiding from a DEXA scan. Your results include bone density (measured in relation to the ideal - a healthy male in his 30s), your subcutaneous body fat (shown in picture form on results as high/medium/low, with exact location) and muscle mass. The results will show you where you carry fat, where it's highest (and lowest), and will even tell you what your entire skeleton weighs. Hint: it's not much. You'll be able to see how much subcutaneous fat (under the skin) and how much visceral fat (around the organs) you carry. The results break your body composition information down into arms, legs, trunk, abs, hips and glutes, front and back, right and left.
Why should you get a DEXA scan?
Of course, once you've got all this info, you're armed with knowledge. You can do something about it. If you want to drop fat, you know exactly how much you can lose. If you've been dieting, you can see whether you've lost muscle mass. If you've been bulking, you can honestly see once and for all how much muscle you've added (and how much of the mass is fat). It's an amazingly useful tool. DEXA scans are useful at the start of a bulk or the end of a cutting diet. They're great for staying on track during a body recomposition journey. They results will keep you motivated like nothing else.
Stop guessing. Start planning your success with real, measurable results. Are you on track? Do you need to make changes, work harder, train smarter? DEXA scans are a great way of charting your muscle gain and fat loss progress.
Have you ever had a DEXA scan? Did the results surprise you?
