Dexa - thoughts and/or experience

[Dunkirk]

Wondering if anybody have used the Dexa Scan, not just for body composition, also their VO2 test, Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR), Active Metabolic Rate (AMR) or any other ones that I may not be familiar with.

I know there's quite a bit of athletes here and maybe some of the other test were beneficial in maximizing their gains.

Would like to know your experience with that and how it helped you, or if you have good knowledge about the subject outside of what can be searched by Google/ChatGPT... Or I guess Deepseek now

 

[eery]

I wouldnt trust any RMR or AMR measurements, they just use basic calculations based off of muscle/fat/water as far as i know.

Its also tends to give skewed results for more muscular and lean individuals.

I wouldnt really waste my time unless its convenient and cheap.

I havent really read up on this but its things ive heard from coaches and people using dexa scans. If you want better information on where dexa scans are useful, i believe there are a few papers and meta analysis on it.

tldr: its kinda useless, but can be a tool to track trends over time if you can duplicate the circumstances you have each time, like hydration and time of day of measurement etc.

 

[BamaCrazy]

I wouldnt trust any RMR or AMR measurements, they just use basic calculations based off of muscle/fat/water as far as i know.

Its also tends to give skewed results for more muscular and lean individuals.

I wouldnt really waste my time unless its convenient and cheap.

I havent really read up on this but its things ive heard from coaches and people using dexa scans. If you want better information on where dexa scans are useful, i believe there are a few papers and meta analysis on it.

tldr: its kinda useless, but can be a tool to track trends over time if you can duplicate the circumstances you have each time, like hydration and time of day of measurement etc.

The cost is dropping now that more places are offering scans. It’s $60 in my area and less if you sign up for a membership ($40). I should have done one before I dropped 45 pounds, then added 15 pounds of muscle. At this point I see no value in getting one now.

 

[AlexDavis43]

I've done DEXA, CT, and indirect calorimetry. Cool just for fun and it was free.

 

[HeatherSwanson]

Wondering if anybody have used the Dexa Scan, not just for body composition, also their VO2 test, Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR), Active Metabolic Rate (AMR) or any other ones that I may not be familiar with.

I know there's quite a bit of athletes here and maybe some of the other test were beneficial in maximizing their gains.

Would like to know your experience with that and how it helped you, or if you have good knowledge about the subject outside of what can be searched by Google/ChatGPT... Or I guess Deepseek now

Had one done the other day for the first time!

Came in at 0.1% of the BF I estimated myself to be. It had all these measurements with body symmetry that I thought were very cool.
My right arm, shoulder to finger tip is 1lb heavier than my left
My right leg, hip to toes is 1.5lbs heavier than my left.
Although I have abbs, I have 1.5lbs of internal fat (can't remember the technical name) that is over the norm for my body weight.
Bone density was average, which means it would be danger low if I wasn't on blast and cruise and not weight training - this data point was worth the money alone.
I will get this done every year moving forward. Would recommend for the now quite manageable price it is.

I barely fit in the machine, which would be a consideration if you're a unit. I'm a shadow of my former self and if 25 year old Heather Swanson went in there, I would not have fit in the machine.

Side note, the guy that did it was a fucking G. Some sort of sports science guy and had me walk in my ginch down the hallway and was able to tell me my injury profile by the way I walk. He had a long list of IBBF pros from the area that he sees annually, which was also cool.

 

[Dunkirk]

Had one done the other day for the first time!

Came in at 0.1% of the BF I estimated myself to be. It had all these measurements with body symmetry that I thought were very cool.
My right arm, shoulder to finger tip is 1lb heavier than my left
My right leg, hip to toes is 1.5lbs heavier than my left.
Although I have abbs, I have 1.5lbs of internal fat (can't remember the technical name) that is over the norm for my body weight.
Bone density was average, which means it would be danger low if I wasn't on blast and cruise and not weight training - this data point was worth the money alone.
I will get this done every year moving forward. Would recommend for the now quite manageable price it is.

I barely fit in the machine, which would be a consideration if you're a unit. I'm a shadow of my former self and if 25 year old Heather Swanson went in there, I would not have fit in the machine.

Side note, the guy that did it was a fucking G. Some sort of sports science guy and had me walk in my ginch down the hallway and was able to tell me my injury profile by the way I walk. He had a long list of IBBF pros from the area that he sees annually, which was also cool.

How did you measure yourself previously to be that close to a Dexa Scan?

 

[HeatherSwanson]

How did you measure yourself previously to be that close to a Dexa Scan

Just an educated guess, been training for 20+ years. The visceral fat number through me off, extra pound and half just around organs? Pretty wild to me

 

[Dunkirk]

The reason I'm interested in one, I'll see if I can find one at a cheaper price and only do the scan from what I gathered here, other scans have me at a higher BF than when compared to pictures. Even when compared to pictures online it's a little weird because I do have loose skin from losing 55 lbs.

I really want to know what mine would be at since they're very accurate.

 

[HeatherSwanson]

The reason I'm interested in one, I'll see if I can find one at a cheaper price and only do the scan from what I gathered here, other scans have me at a higher BF than when compared to pictures. Even when compared to pictures online it's a little weird because I do have loose skin from losing 55 lbs.

I really want to know what mine would be at since they're very accurate.

It you have some loose skin look at doing extended fasts, like 3-4 days. Tightens that up a bit, seen it in action a few times now.

Snake diet, snake juice guy on YT talks about it and has the protocol