The hydrostatic weighing method is the most scientific and accurate method available for the measurement of body fat. As the name implies, this method involves the use of a hydrostatic scale, and is used underwater to measure how dense an object is. It has absolutely nothing to do with size and everything to do with density. Consider the following:

If a group of people jumped feet first into a 12-foot swimming pool to see who would reach the bottom first without trying, the person with the least amount of body fat would get there first. The person with the most body fat would get there last. Why? Because muscle mass is denser than fat, it weighs more underwater, and it sinks at a faster rate. You can prove this theory by throwing a pound of Crisco on top of the water and watching it float, and throwing a one-pound rock on top of the water and watching it sink. The rock will be much smaller than the crisco, but the difference does not lie in how large each object is, or how much each object weighs on dry land. The difference has to do with each object's density. The denser the object, the less likely it is to float in the water. This is why overweight people have a tendency to float much easier than athletic people do. In fact, the higher the percentage of body fat a person has, the more buoyant they are in the water.

The hydrostatic weighing method is not the only method available for measuring body fat, but it is the best method because it measures how dense an object is. Since muscle is far more dense than fat, the higher the number registering on the underwater scale, the better off a person is in terms of lower amounts of body fat compared to a person who weighs less on the hydrostatic scale.

The main drawback to the hydrostatic weighing method is that this type of scale is not found at the corner drug store. As the name implies, the hydrostatic weighing method takes place in the water and requires a trained person to operate it, but if you really want to know exactly how much body fat you have, it is the most reliable method.

Weighing underwater is significantly different from weighing yourself on dry land. The more you weigh underwater, the less fat you have on your body. The less you weigh on the hydrostatic scale, the higher your body fat percentage. The density of an object is key. The hydrostatic weighing method is a measurement of density, therefore size is irrelevant. A dense body is a toned body and will have less overall fat. This is why the hydrostatic weighing method is the best method to use for measuring body fat.

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