On average, adults begin losing 8% of their muscle per decade starting at age 40. This means, by the time you are in your 50s or 60s you have been experiencing decades of gradually worsening functional capability.

“Women in particular are at several disadvantages when it comes to optimal muscle health. With age, their muscles deteri­orate at a faster rate than men’s”, explains Michael Bemben, an exercise physiologist and professor in the Department of Health and Exercise Science at the University of Oklahoma.

“The neurons that control muscles in both genders are programmed to die off with age. Men typically have more muscle to begin with so they can afford to lose some, whereas women can’t.”

The good news is that you can do a great deal to counteract the effects of time and to keep yourself in top form. Research has found that sarcopenia is due as much to lifestyle as sheer age. A recent study has shown that exercise can make your cells biologically younger and telomeres in your white blood cells longer. It changes how cells in the body communicate with one another, as well as how rapidly they age.

Then there is this study. It gathered 21 of the elderly athletic men, 10 runners and cyclists in their 20s, and another 10 healthy but non-athletic elderly men. Researchers measured all of the men’s thighs and took blood and muscle-tissue samples. To cut a long story short, the study found that long-term exercise may help aging muscles in part by training them to dissipate age-related inflammation. At a cellular level, elderly athletic men’s muscles resemble those of 25-year-olds .

Naturally, muscle will gradually become more and more functionally limited. This reduction also increases the risk for associated problems such as adult-onset diabetes, hypercholesterolemia, and hypertension, as well as cardiovascular disease. So keeping yourself in top form will not only make you look good, but it is good for your health as well. The attention we devote to building and maintaining muscles today will make a significant difference 20, 30 or 40 years down the road when it comes to carrying out even basic actions such as walking and bending.

While you obviously cannot totally stop the natural aging of muscles, not yet at least…(but never say never), there are steps you can take early on to keep your muscle quality up.

• Create a mix of physical activity that comprises weight-bearing activities, cardiovascular fitness, and balance and flexibility training.
• Listen to your body and modify your activities accordingly.
• Build up the intensity of your workouts slowly over time to minimize the chance of injury.

A recent review of studies in the journal Age and Ageing pinpoints building muscle and eating lots of protein as the best ways to fend off sarcopenia. The review compiled 13-years worth of published research on sarcopenia interventions in adults 50 and older, to help scientists get a better grasp on how to prevent and treat the disease.

By contracting your muscles, weightlifting signals to your body that the muscles need to recover and then rebuild to be bigger and stronger in order to be prepared for future stressors. Spending time pumping weights in the gym and sipping on protein shakes may pay off in a big way as you age.

Another study tested the effects of weightlifting and high-intensity interval training (HIIT), and found that while weightlifting was most effective at building muscle strength, only high-intensity training changed participants’ muscles at the cellular level. This is a type of physical training that involves a series of high intensity exercise workouts interspersed with rest or relief periods. Or even more simply put, you run, cycle or row fast for a bit, then slow down for a bit.

“If people have to pick one exercise, I would recommend high-intensity interval training,” says study author Sreekumaran Nair, M.D.

“But I think it would be more beneficial if they could do three to four days of interval training and then a couple days of strength training.”

With the help of running watches and activity trackers, it is now easier than ever to integrate interval training into your fitness routine. For those that don’t want to fork out for a fully fledged running watch, even some run-of-the mill activity trackers have started to include this functionality as part of their feature-set.

Essential reading: Torch fat quickly with interval training – a beginners guide

What actually happens when you exercise and why these changes are relatively age-independent is hardwired into our biology and includes the induction of a variety of synthetic pathways when muscle is exposed to resistance training and increased activity. These simply don’t turn off when we age, but remain ready to respond to at any time.

Body fat percentage along with resting heart rate and heart rate variability is a great measure of fitness level, since it is the only body measurement which directly calculates a person’s relative body composition without regard to height or weight. The widely used body mass index (BMI) provides a measure that allows for an estimate of healthy weight of an individual based on their height. While BMI largely increases as adiposity increases, due to differences in body composition, other indicators of body fat give more accurate results.

We have reviewed a number of smart scales which can help you keep tabs on body fat. Or you can use a hand-held body fat monitor for more precise analysis on how you are progressing with your workouts. There are also lots of wearables which can help you to keep on top of your fitness or count those reps and sets  when you hit the gym.

Essential reading: The best wearables for hitting the gym

And don’t forget. Resistance exercise and high intensity interval training are the best stimulators for maintaining muscle function, strength and size. Whether you’re a young athlete, a pro athlete or an 80-year-old woman, its never too late to start.

Above all, get active and stay active!

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The majority of us want to exercise more, yet only 3% of the global adult population are documented gym members and more than 50% of those don’t go very often. That’s lots of gym memberships going to waste! Perhaps the latest crop of wearables can help remedy the situation.

Essential reading: Top fitness trackers and health gadgets

These devices remove the burden of manual tracking of workouts. By identifying your exercises and recording reps and sets, your workouts are showcased in unprecedented detail. Some even go as far as guiding you on form.

Whether you are just a beginner or a hardened gym buff, there is an activity tracker to suit you. Read on for our selection of wearables to help take your gym session to a new level. All of these were tried and tested by our in-house team.

Jump to

Beast | Push Band | Atlas |  Gymwatch | Skulpt Chisel | Moov Smart Coach | Fitbit Charge 3 | Garmin Vivosmart 4

Beast

The Beast sensor is configured as a small magnet which allows it to be easily plugged on barbells, dumbbells, kettlebells, gym machines or to the body itself. The device shows in real-time how much you are pushing, rep by rep, whether you are lifting weights, using a machine or performing bodyweight exercises. 

Beast utilizes something called Velocity Based Training. This takes out the guesswork on how much load you should be adding or removing on a particular set. It also tells you if you should move on and try a new exercise altogether by using the measurement of the bar speed and work to understand the force production.

The gizmo tracks your improvement and helps you train better. You can chose to visualize Speed, Power or Strength and monitor your performance live while working out. 

Moreover, it gives you an overview of all workout data, keeping a diary of your performance. Out of all the devices we tested for tracking your reps and sets, this is one of the best.

Read hands-on review

thisisbeast.com*

PUSH Band 2.0

Push promotes its strength band as the first scientifically validated wearable to provide true objective insights about your performance in the weight room. This is an activity tracker plus mobile app that sends real-time weight-lifting data to your smartphone.

The wearable can be attached to your body or the barbell to detect exercise repetitions. This is another device that uses the concept of Velocity Based Training to let you know whether to keep pushing or to hold back.

After we figured out how to use PUSH, it became simple. With a glance of the stats it was easy to see how we were performing on the day. If the velocity for a particular set was high, it’s time to increase the weight. A slowdown indicates that fatigue is setting in. You’ll become more focused on each and every rep.

According to the company’s website, Push is already in active use by many professional teams across the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL and AF. PUSH is water-resistant so you don’t need to wash it often. Just put it on and lift.

Read hands-on review

trainwithpush.com*

Atlas Wristband 2

Atlas is an inexpensive wearable that tracks and identifies different activities, evaluates form, counts reps and sets and calculates the calories you burned. The company originally raised $629k on crowdfunding site Indiegogo to fund development. It is now on generation 2.

With a single on-wrist device, Atlas can monitor your body in 3D. It can tell the difference between push-ups and triangle push-ups, bicep curls and alternating bicep curls and squats versus dead lifts. The tracker also has the ability to automatically detect and count over 70 of the most popular exercises. Not to worry if your favourite exercise is not in the database. You can teach Atlas to recognise new ones.

The gizmo logs your workouts with very little user action and keeps track of your heart rate so you can see how each movement affects your body. The on-wrist display gives you live feedback on the type, speed and quality of your exercises as you’re working out which means you can leave your phone in the locker for added convenience.

Read hands-on review

Amazon*

Strenx by Gymwatch

Strenx by GymWatch measures strength and motion across fitness exercises, including machines, free weights and bodyweight. The sensor records the full range of motion of an exercise, determines every strength component, repetitions and detects incorrect execution to help ensure exercises are performed properly and desired fitness goals are reached.

The device is worn as an armband or on the upper leg and provides you with real-time verbal feedback. The user inputs the activity type using the smartphone app. The gadget then calculates your rate of motion and, should you overextend yourself, tells you that you’ve done something wrong.

It should be noted that Strenx can only calculate the movements for the limb that it’s wrapped around. The battery level is a decent 30 days, which should cover your workouts for a while.

Read hands-on review

Amazon*

Skulpt Chisel

Skulpt products measure metrics that you wouldn’t normally measure with more ‘traditional’ fitness trackers. Rather than monitoring daily activities, or counting your reps and sets, Skulpt measures muscle quality and body fat percentage.

The device tracks 24 different muscles on your body, providing the fat percentage and a rating of the muscle’s fitness for each muscle. You can then view a ‘heat map’ on the app to conveniently track your strongest muscles and identify those that need improvement. Skulpt claims that Chisel is five times more accurate than bioimpedance scales, and three to four times more accurate than measuring with callipers.

Essential reading: Devices that help you keep tabs on your body fat

The device will give you greater insight and enable you to measure the result of your fitness achievements, to better understand when you are losing fat and gaining muscle. The app will even suggest actual workout routines based on the MQ and fat % of your individual muscles. Next time you head off to the gym, you will have a clear understanding on exactly which muscles you need to place most focus on.

Read hands-on review

Amazon*

Moov Smart Coach

Moov is a one of a kind wearable fitness coach that actively monitors your activity and advises you in real time how to get the most from your workout. Similar to many other fitness trackers, the gizmo tracks your daily activity and sleep — but rather than steps, Moov measures movement within 3D space.

The device essentially translates your exact movement into real-time coaching, both through audio and on screen, and advises you whether you are performing your exercises correctly. It does this through use of the 9 axis motion sensing system – including an accelerometer, gyroscope and magnetometer to learn the wearer’s form and correct any issues that may lead to injury.

Moov pairs with an app to train users on five sports — running, cycling, swimming, cardio boxing, and a seven-minute bodyweight workout which you can perform at home as it doesn’t require the use of any weights. The tracker has been tailored to each individual activity, so offers separate exercise programs.

Amazon | Moov*

Fitbit Charge 3 or Versa range

Fitbit’s flagship fitness tracker features exercise modes that provide real-time stats, helping you get the most from your sweat sessions. This includes multi-sport modes for tracking specific workouts like runs, biking, weight-lifting and yoga. Because the process is automatic, you will get credit even if you forget to log a workout.

Charge 3 doesn’t count things like reps or the amount of weight that you are lifting, but you can use its exercise mode to track your heart rate and calories while you lift weights. You also get a snapshot of your fitness level using a personalised Cardio Fitness Score. The value is based on your estimated VO2 Max that is calculated using your user profile and resting heart rate. The Cardio Fitness Level shows how you compare to those of the same age and gender, and ranges from poor to excellent. Plus you get bar charts of your fat burn, cardio and peak heart rate zones.

If don’t mind spending a bit more cash, you can always opt for one of the devices in the Versa range. They also track how much you’ve exerted yourself in the weight-room.

Read hands-on review

Amazon*

Vivosmart 4

The Vivosmart 4 takes across all the features of its predecessors (apart from GPS), but adds more sophisticated fitness tracking tools. This includes a blood oxygen sensor and something Garmin calls Body Battery energy monitoring. The metric uses a combination of stress, heart rate variability (HRV), sleep and activity data to let you know when to push hard, when to rest.

Thanks to Garmin Elevate wrist heart rate technology, you still get 24/7 heart rate monitoring, and the wearable automatically tracks activity including steps, floors climbed, calories burned, intensity minutes, sleep and more. It also features smart notifications to keep you connected while on the go.

When you start a strength training activity, the device will capture your exercises, reps and sets along with your work and rest times so you can leave the notebook at home. That data gets pushed to Garmin Connect during your next sync so you can review your workout in even greater detail.

An alternative to the Vivosmart is the Vivosport. Released last year, the ultra-slim tracker comes built-in GPS. Garmin’s strength training activity has also made it onto its high end sports-watches.

Read hands-on review

Amazon*

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Essential reading: Top fitness trackers and health gadgets

The widely used body mass index (BMI) provides a measure that allows for an estimate of healthy weight of an individual based on their height. While BMI largely increases as adiposity increases, due to differences in body composition other indicators of body fat give more accurate results. For example, individuals with greater muscle mass or larger bones will have higher BMIs.

Body fat percentage is a great measure of fitness level since it is the only body measurement which directly calculates a person’s relative body composition without regard to height or weight.

Contents

Recommended per cent of body fat
How to measure body fat
Smart Scales
Skulpt Chisel
Bello

Recommended per cent of body fat

Women, during the course of their life may need to sustain an embryo and then a baby from their own energy reserves. So they accumulate more body fat than men as some of it is stored energy to help nourish a child through its development. This is not to say that men don’t also use body fat as stored energy. Men just need less of it.

According to the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM), body fat standards can differ based on age, gender, race, ethnicity and even activity level. However, to simplify the various standards, ACSM offers the version as shown below. The leanest athletes typically compete at levels of about 6–13% for men or 14–20% for women. Bodybuilders may compete at ranges even lower than these levels.

How to measure body fat

There are a number of methods for determining body fat percentage. This includes the more traditional, but less accurate, methods such as measurement with calipers or through the use of bioelectrical impedance analysis.

Then there are very precise methods, which are also very expensive costing upwards of several hundred dollars. These include whole-body air displacement plethysmography, near-infrared interactance and dual energy X-ray absorptiometry.

Fortunately, advances in technology are offering additional options.

Smart scales

Scales that measure body fat do this by sending a low electrical current through one foot and reading the current with a sensor under the other foot. Most of this current will flow through your “lean mass” as this is the most conductive, so none of the current will actually flow through your fat content.

Your percentage of fat is then estimated, and highly dependent on variables such as level of hydration, bone density, etc. The accuracy of body fat measurements provided by scales should therefore be taken with a grain of salt as they can be inconsistent and inaccurate at the best of times.

Essential reading: A roundup of the best smart scales on the market

Most smart scales measure more than just body fat. They measure weight of course, calculate body mass index (BMI), and some calculate lean mass, water weight and various other metrics. Equally important, smart scales also have the ability to track and store data which makes the job of keeping track of your progress that much easier. Much easier than writing everything down yourself.

For most people smart scales should provide a sufficiently precise estimate of body fat. For those more serious about their health and fitness, or for the gym rats among us, there are a couple of other interesting options worth trying out.

Skulpt Chisel

When you think of fitness trackers, Skulpt products don’t readily come to mind. That’s because they’re a different breed, that measure metrics that you wouldn’t normally capture with more ‘traditional’ activity devices. Rather than monitoring daily activities, such as steps taken and distance traveled, Skulpt Chisel measures muscle quality and body fat percentage.

The gizmo follows in the footsteps of the original first generation Aim device. The Aim was brought to life after a successful Indiegogo campaign back in 2014. That campaign set out with the goal of raising $100,000 in funding, but by the end raised four times that amount.

Just like the original, Chisel has 12 sensors on the back with optimized configurations and frequencies. These send a small current past the subcutaneous fat and through the muscle fibers, picking up thousands of data points per second. The technology then evaluates the flow of that current to measure the fat percentage per muscle, and rates that muscle’s fitness.

Chisel measures 24 different muscles on your body, providing the fat percentage and the MQ value for each individual muscle. The 24 muscles are (both left and right side): abs, biceps, calves, chest, forearms, glutes, hamstrings, lower back, quads, shoulders, triceps, and upper back.

Skulpt Chisel Gadgets & Wearables may get a commission

Is it perfect? It would be a stretch to say it is. You’ll find the little gizmo iz very sensitive to where it’s placed on the body. But with regular use, this tracker will give you better insight into your fitness and enable you to measure the results of your workouts more precisely. This will help you to understand where exactly you are losing fat and gaining muscle. Then when you head off to the gym, you’ll have a much greater understanding on which muscles you need to place most focus on.

Bello

An option in the making is called Bello. A crowdfunded project, the gizmo automatically measures fat volume around your waist with medical-grade accuracy.

It does this with near infrared spectroscopic technology and records it in the accompanying smartphone app. The company says Bello measures lipid, water, oxygenated and deoxygenated hemoglobin making it the first portable device that can directly quantify lipid underneath the skin.

The FDA-approved product is going for around $190 on Indiegogo (50% off final retail price) which is not exactly cheap. Delivery to backers is expected this Summer.

Whether you opt for a smart scale, Skulpt Chisel or Bello, monitoring your body fat percentage is much better than just keeping tabs on your weight. Weight alone is not a good indicator of health because it does not distinguish between kilograms that come from body fat and those that come from muscle.

We are very excited where this technology will lead us and look forward to further innovative products in this area.

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We do not hide the fact that we are big fans of this device. While smart scales are great for weight measurement, and for keeping an automatic historical record of your metrics, they are not so great when it comes to body fat measurements.

Essential reading: Skulpt Chisel – the lighter and leaner body fat tracker

Scales that measure body fat do this by sending a low electrical current through one foot and reading the current with a sensor under the other foot. The current passes through fat more slowly and the scale calculates the amount of resistance to come up with a body fat percentage. The accuracy of these body fat measurements should be taken with a grain of salt as they can be inconsistent and inaccurate at times. This is where Skulpt Aim and the newly released Skulpt Chisel excel. We won’t go into detail here – you can go and read our review of both devices.

We do have one major gripe though with the original Skulpt Aim device. After nearly a year of use, we found that the battery would not hold charge for very long. And as Amazon reviews and Skulpt’s own Facebook page comments show, we are not the only ones with this problem. So we decided to engage in a bit of DIY.

Essential reading: Skulpt Aim – hand held body fat monitor

First – a disclaimer.

We do not suggest you do this, in fact we suggest that you don’t do this! We are merely describing what we have done to resolve the issue. If you attempt to do fix the battery yourself, you might render your device useless or void your warranty.

Now that you have been warned – feel free to read on!

Step 1

To start off we set out 1 Skulpt Aim device (with a battery that does not hold charge well!), 2 AAA size batteries: 850mAh 2.4V (2 x 1.2V), 1 soldering iron and solder. We are located in the UK, so ordered a replacement battery for a Tomy TD300 baby monitor which has the same specification.

Step 2

We took a deep breath, and with a flat screw driver CAREFULLY pried open the cover.

This is what the insides of the device look like.

So you can see the batteries, and the screen which we gently lifted to reveal the electronic board. All good so far…

Step 3

Now we gently pried everything out of the box. It took some wiggling of the electronic board, but eventually we managed to squeeze everything out of the casing as the picture below shows.

Step 4

We carefully examined the electronic circuit, and used a brush to clean everything off a bit.

We then pried off the batteries from the connecting pins. Now, this was a probably the trickiest part of the whole process and it took about 5-10 minutes before we were able to remove the old battery.

This is the old battery.

Step 5

Now we used a soldering iron, and soldered on the new battery to replace the old one. If you do not know what soldering is or what soldering does, google the term and watch some Youtube videos.

Step 6

That is pretty much it. We put everything back into the casing, wedged the front cover back on, took a deep breath, and switched the device on…

Luckily, this article has a happy ending. Our device was working again! Here is a pic of our Skulpt Aim with the new batteries in place.

We found that this process required us to reset the device and pair it again with the smartphone. It did not allow us to sync until we did this.

As all our readings were saved in the smartphone app, once the device was paired again with the smartphone, all the readings were automatically transferred back to the Skulpt Aim. Which means we did not lose any of our data.

And that’s it. Problem solved. From start to finish – the whole process took us about half an hour. The battery life is back to normal, and the Skulpt Aim holds charge again for around a week.

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According to the study, the UK’s top muscle hotspots are:

1. Newcastle
2. Leeds
3. Birmingham
4. Southampton
5. Belfast

The UK’s bottom muscle hotspots are:

1. Aberdeen
2. Oxford
3. Glasgow
4. Portsmouth
5. Sheffield

Some more interesting findings from the study include:

• 77% of Brits exercise at least once a week. Men exercise more than women. A quarter of men exercise the recommended three to four times a week. On the other hand a quarter of the women only exercised once or twice a week.
• Nearly 1 in 5 Brits can’t name any muscles in the body. Around two-thirds could not locate their quadriceps and no clue where their gluteals were located. In fact, one in four did not even know where their biceps were. 10% of those who claim to exercise twice a day believed their pectorals were located in their lower leg rather than in the chest!
• Women scored the least when tested on naming muscles in the body, 21% couldn’t name any at all, whereas 14% of men scored well with their ability to name more than ten muscles in the body.
• Not surprisingly, 37% of women were unhappy with their bodies along with 30% of the men. Around 1 in 3 Londoners admit they’re not happy with their body shape despite 1 in 5 exercising at least once a day.

Other findings include that even those who claimed to be fitness enthusiasts were clueless when it came to tracking their fitness levels, with more than a third admitting that they have never measured or checked their fitness levels.

Juan Jaramillo, VP of Product at Skulpt, comments “Despite widespread disapproval from health professionals, the data reveals that the UK is still a society that relies on tracking health and fitness improvements by jumping on the bathroom scales and measuring their weight.

The results reveal there’s also been a widespread adoption of taking mirror selfies to track fitness progress across the UK, though most can understand that this is not a reliable method to track your progress.

An accurate way to measure your fitness levels is to do the tracking from the inside out by noting down changes in body fat and muscle quality. This will enable Britons to receive a personal in-depth analysis of your body, helping them to identify what areas have been neglected – for instance the lower back – or over-trained – such as the biceps.”

If you are striving to improve your health and fitness, it is important to have a basic understanding of how your body works. This is important both to ensure that the exercise you are doing is beneficial or that it is going to be damaging to your body.

Skulpt Aim is a device that was made after a successful IndieGogo campaign last year. Rather than tracking daily activities, such as steps taken and distance traveled, the device enables users to track their muscle quality and fat percentage across 24 muscles in the body.

The Aim isn’t the first device to measure these metrics. Bioimpedance scales and skinfold calipers have been used by gym goers for years, but the Aim is the first device to measure fat percentage from individual muscles. You can find our full review of the Aim here.

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8

Design8.0/10

Ease of use7.0/10

Use of information8.0/10

Motivation9.0/10

Pros

• More precise than a fitness scale
• Ability to track individual muscles to identify where you need most work
• Great app which allows you to track progress over time
• Long battery life

Cons

• Positioning of the device can effect results
• Difficult to verify results
• No screen – so dependent on smartphone

When you think of fitness trackers, Skulpt products don’t readily come to mind. That’s because they’re a different breed, that measure metrics that you wouldn’t normally measure with more ‘traditional’ activity devices. Rather than monitoring daily activities, such as steps taken and distance traveled, the Skulpt Chisel measures muscle quality and body fat percentage.

Essential reading: Skulpt Aim – hand held body fat monitor

The Chisel follows in the footsteps of the original first generation Aim device, which we have been using for over a year now. The Aim was made after a successful IndieGogo campaign in 2014. Skulpt’s first device is now being used in various clinical trials around the US to study patients with neuromuscular problems. It has even been used in collaboration with NASA to study the impact of weightlessness on the muscles of mice that have been in outer space!

But how did it all begin?

Dr. Seward Rutkove, Skulpt co-founder, is a neurologist at Harvard Medical School. As a physician and researcher, he was frustrated that there were no good ways to measure the muscle health of his patients. 15 years ago, he embarked on a mission to find or develop a better way to measure muscles. In collaboration with physicists at Northeastern University and engineers at MIT, he developed and tested the earliest prototypes that measured EIM (Electrical Impedance Myography). In 2009, Dr. Rutkove and Dr. Jose Bohorquez, an electrical engineering graduate from MIT, co-founded Skulpt to develop EIM devices.

Body fat percentage is a great measure of fitness level, since it is the only body measurement which directly calculates a person’s relative body composition without regard to height or weight. The widely used body mass index (BMI) provides a measure that allows for an estimate of healthy weight of an individual based on their height. While BMI largely increases as adiposity increases, due to differences in body composition, other indicators of body fat give more accurate results; for example, individuals with greater muscle mass or larger bones will have higher BMIs. What this means is that BMI may not always be an appropriate or precise indicator of healthy weight in an individual.

Skulpt showcased the new Chisel at CES Unveiled in New York in late 2015. The company then started an Indiegogo campaign to raise funds for the tracker which does pretty much everything the original Aim does – without the need for a screen, thus improving battery life and lowering the cost. By the end of the campaign, the company raised over $500,000, well above their $100,000 initial goal.

Just like the original device, Chisel has 12 sensors on the back with optimized configurations and frequencies. It sends a small current past the subcutaneous fat and through the muscle fibers, picking up thousands of data points per second. The technology then evaluates the flow of that current to measure the fat percentage per muscle, and rates that muscle’s fitness.

Before Skulpt, there was no consumer gadget that could measure the quality of one’s muscle (a term in medical space that refers to the force your muscle produces relative to its size). If it all sounds complicated, don’t worry. It’s not. Chisel measures muscle quality and simplifies it into a score of the muscles’ fitness – MQ. A higher MQ represents a stronger, leaner, and more fit muscle.

Chisel measures 24 different muscles on your body, providing the fat percentage and the MQ value for each muscle. The 24 muscles are (both left and right side): abs, biceps, calves, chest, forearms, glutes, hamstrings, lower back, quads, shoulders, triceps, and upper back.

On the back of the tracker are 12 sensors; once you have chosen which muscle you would like to measure, simply spray the sensors with water and place the Aim on your muscle. The sensors will then painlessly send a small current past the fat and through your muscle. If the reading was successful, the ring around the bezel will turn from red to blue.

To get a total body fat percentage or a total body MQ score, you will need to measure three areas: triceps, abs, and quads. You can however measure other muscles as well. The Aim is water-resistant and can be used while in the shower. This makes it much easier to conduct measurements as it takes away the need to constantly wet the sensors with the spray bottle. After using the tracker for a few days, we have eventually reverted to splashing water on the individual muscles as this this is a quicker route to obtaining measurements.

The gadget has a LED light ring around its edge. When taking a measurement, the light ring will be pulsing in color, and then it will turn to a solid color when the measurement is ready. You can then view a ‘heat map’ on the app to conveniently track your strongest muscles and those that need improvement.

A mobile app is required to use the Chisel. An iPhone 5 or newer, and Android phones with OS 4.3 or later are all compatible. The original Aim can be controlled from both the smartphone app and the device itself for added convenience.

Skulpt trackers aren’t the first to measure these metrics. Bioimpedance scales and skinfold calipers have been used by gym goers for years, but Skulpt devices are the first to measure fat percentage from individual muscles. But as it is difficult to independently verify the results, it comes down to whether or not you trust the sensors on the device to deliver accurate results. The manufacturer and a number of other professionals in the fitness industry claim that it is accurate. As mentioned, we have been extensively testing the original Aim gadget for over a year now, and our impression as well is that it is accurate.

Essential reading: Devices that help you keep tabs on your body fat

According to the Skulpt website, clinical trials have shown that its devices are within 1-2% accuracy. Well above other methods of measuring body fat. The gold standard of course is DEXA/Hydrostatic weighting – this however costs upwards of $150. And its a one off measurement so you would need to pay that amount each time you go. Additionally, Skulpt trackers also measure individual muscle groups, as well as your muscle quality (MQ). Something that bio-impedance scales, or any other device on the market, cannot give you.

Having said that, what you will find in practice is that measurements vary depending on where on the muscle the sensor is placed. Even moving the tracker an inch or two to the side, can sometimes result in a slightly different reading. One way around this is to measure the muscle 3 to 4 times, and obtain an average reading. And do it at the same time in the day, preferably as soon as you wake up in the morning. Which is what we eventually reverted to doing.

Check out the official video.

As mentioned, the main difference between the first and second generation devices is that the original Aim has a screen, while the new tracker has no screen. This enables the Chisel to have a battery life that is twice as long. A full charge will take about 2 hours, and can last up to one and a half months with regular use. With heavier use, it should last between 2 and 4 weeks. The Chisel is lighter than its predecessor, allowing you to transport the device with ease. Also, the Chisel costs less than the original device.

“The earlier success of the Skulpt Aim is helping to change the way people monitor fitness, so we wanted to create an affordable counterpart that gives a wider audience the chance to better understand their bodies,” said Jose Bohorquez, Co-Founder and CEO, Skulpt.

Chisel supports only one user at a time. It can however be re-paired to another person’s app at any time. If you are sharing your Chisel with another person, you need to make sure the device is paired with the correct app before use, to ensure the measurements are saved to the correct app.

With regular use, this little tracker will give you greater insight into your fitness and enable you to precisely measure the results of your workouts. This will help you to understand where exactly you are losing fat and gaining muscle. Next time you head off to the gym, you will have a much greater understanding on which muscles you need to place most focus on.

Essential reading: Skulpt Aim – hand held body fat monitor

The company is also developing a few interesting new features which will be enabled via app updates. The one that has recently launched, and is undergoing refinement, is tailored fitness device based on your fitness goals and metrics. The app suggests actual workout routines based on the quality of your individual muscles. What you essentially get is a personal fitness coach. Another upcoming feature are demographics, so you can see exactly where you stand compared to your age group, gender, etc. And finally Skulpt will add a calorie counter based on your body fat %.

Skulpt Chisel Gadgets & Wearables may get a commission

We are a review site that receives a small commission from sales of certain items, but the price is the same for you. Purchasing items by clicking on links in this article allows us to run this website. We are independently owned and all opinions expressed here are our own. See our affiliate disclosure page for more details.

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The company has recently announced findings from its “Fitness State of the Nation Report”, a countrywide survey, based on its own user data, that ranks the strongest states in the US. The study looks at over 600 Skulpt participants and reveals which states have the most muscle overall, as well as which specific muscles in each state are the strongest.

Unsurprisingly, it was revealed that many exercise enthusiasts are skipping the lower body portion of their workout routine. Overall, the study found that the strongest muscles in the US were in the upper body including triceps, chest, shoulders and forearms while the weakest muscles in America were in individual’s glutes and calves.

The study also found that the top four most muscular states were all in the South: Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi and Tennessee. While the South may rank as the strongest region overall, the Northeastern states including New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts and New York all had the strongest upper body muscles.

“At Skulpt, we strive to provide our users with the most accurate way to measure their fitness progress,” says Juan Jaramillo, VP of Product at Skulpt. “It was really fascinating to see how our users panned out across the country, and the different muscles each area is working on.”

The Aim isn’t the first device to measure these metrics. Bioimpedance scales and skinfold calipers have been used by gym goers for years, but the Aim is the first device to measure fat percentage from individual muscles. You can find our full review of the device here.

The post Which states in the US have the most muscle? appeared first on Gadgets & Wearables.

Skulpt has today announced the closing of a $4.1M Series A funding round. This follows a $1.4 funding Seed Round last year. Nautilus Venture Partners led the new round with participation from Caerus Venture Partners. The fresh financing will be used for expansion into retail over the next year and to enhance Skulpt’s mobile app functionality to include personalized, data-driven fitness plans.

Jose Bohorquez, the co-founder and CEO of Skulpt said, “I’m really proud of what our team has accomplished so far and this round of funding helps us take things to the next level. We plan to expand into retail in 2016 and grow our team to continuously improve our app for current and future customers. Our vision is to help people improve their health and fitness efficiently, by using information about their bodies that they can’t get anywhere else.”

Aim uses EIM technology. This is a technique in which a current is applied directly to each muscle using optimized electrode configurations and frequencies. As a result, the current flows past the subcutaneous fat and through the muscle in a much more controlled fashion, for greater accuracy.

Last week Skulpt unveiled the Chisel at CES Unveiled in New York. The Chisel, which is currently raising funds on Indiegogo for a limited price of $99 (will be priced at $149), does everything the Aim does without the need for a screen, improving battery life.

Juan Jaramillo, VP of Product for Skulpt, said “The Indiegogo community put us on the map two years ago when we launched our first product, the Skulpt Aim. We wanted to give them an opportunity to order the Chisel before it’s available to anyone else, and provide us with valuable feedback that will help us make the overall product even better.”

Skulpt’s EIM technology was developed at Harvard and MIT and is currently used in top research hospitals across the US. Thanks to the device, for the first time, users are able to gather data about the quality of individual muscles to better understand their bodies and succeed in fitness training.

Skulpt claims that the Aim is five times more accurate than bioimpedance scales, and three to four times more accurate than measuring with callipers. We have been using the device since it came out in the spring, and our impression as well is that it is accurate. Click here to read our comprehensive review.

The post Skulpt raises funding to expand into retail and improve app appeared first on Gadgets & Wearables.

8

Design8.0/10

Ease of use7.0/10

Use of information8.0/10

Motivation9.0/10

Pros

• More precise than a fitness scale
• Ability to track individual muscles to identify where you need most work
• Great app which allows you to track progress over time

Cons

• Positioning of the device can effect results
• Difficult to verify results

Have you ever wondered what your body fat percentage is? How about the “quality” of your muscles? Well, you dont need to wonder any more – the Skulpt Aim is the first device that claims to measure both.

The Aim was made after a successful IndieGogo campaign in 2014. That campaign set out with the goal of raising $100,000 in funding, but by the time it was complete, it had raised nearly $400,000.

This is not your typical fitness tracker. At the moment, it truly is one of a kind as it measures metrics that you wouldn’t normally measure with more ‘traditional’ fitness trackers. Rather than tracking daily activities, such as steps taken and distance traveled, this tracker measures muscle quality and body fat percentage.

The Aim isn’t the first device to measure these metrics. Bioimpedance scales and skinfold calipers have been used by gym goers for years, but the Aim is the first device to measure fat percentage from individual muscles.

Bioelectrical impedance scales measure body composition by sending a single current starting at your feet. Most of this current will flow through your “lean mass” as this is the most conductive, so none of the current will actually flow through your fat content. Your percentage of fat is then estimated, and highly dependent on variables such as level of hydration, bone density, etc.

Essential reading: Devices that help you keep tabs on your body fat

In comparison, Aim uses EIM technology. This is a technique in which a current is applied directly to each muscle using optimized electrode configurations and frequencies. As a result, the current flows past the subcutaneous fat and through the muscle in a much more controlled fashion, for greater accuracy.

Design

The Aim package comes with: Skulpt Aim tracker, charging cradle and cable, travel pouch, and spray water bottle.

The device itself is about the size of a deck of cards. It is curved along the back and made from plastic and a rubber-like material. This material is designed to safely absorb small amounts of moisture without damaging the tracker. There’s also a small bezel along the edge that causes the gadget to appear to glow while in use.

The front LCD screen displays the two numbers: body fat percentage and MQ. The Aim can’t measure anything else: it just measures those two things. So if you need an all-in-one calorie tracker with GPS functionality, then the Skulpt Aim isn’t it.

While the Aim looks and feels sturdy, there are reports of people dropping the device and seeing the front cover pop off. We have not had such a problem – but then again, we did not drop the device.

Ease of use

When you first power on the Aim you will be asked to create an account and then pair the tracker with the Android or iOS app on your smartphone. This is how you can view and keep track of your muscle quality and fat percentage data. Via the app.

On the back of the tracker are 12 sensors; once you have chosen which muscle you would like to measure, simply spray the sensors with water and place the Aim on your muscle. The sensors will then painlessly send a small current past the fat and through your muscle. If the reading was successful, the ring around the bezel will turn from red to blue.

To get a total body fat percentage or a total body MQ score, you will need to measure three areas: triceps, abs, and quads. You can however measure other muscles as well. The Aim is water-resistant and can be used while in the shower. This makes it much easier to conduct measurements as it takes away the need to constantly wet the sensors with the spray bottle. After using the tracker for a few days, we have eventually reverted to splashing water on the individual muscles as this this is a quicker route to obtaining measurements.

After you take your readings, your MQ and body fat percentage will appear directly on the display. Each measurement is shown as a digital number along with a “dial” around the outside ranging from “Needs work” to “Skulpted”. A small arrow will point to where each number is on the scale.

While most days Skulpt Aim does the job without any problems, we have found on the rare occasion that we had to take 2 to 3 readings before Aim accepted the measurement. This can be a bit frustrating if you have set out to do a quick measurement in the morning before rushing off to work.

Once you have successfully completed the measurements, Aim will send the data to your iPhone or Android device via Bluetooth. The Aim will then analyze the data and display your body fat percentage and MQ score.

Use of information

Skulpt claims that the Aim is five times more accurate than bioimpedance scales, and three to four times more accurate than measuring with callipers.

Essential reading: Skulpt Chisel – the lighter and leaner body fat tracker

The tracker measures 12 muscles on both the left and right sides of your body (24 total). The individual muscles are: abs, biceps, calves, chest, forearms, glutes, hamstrings, lower back, quads, shoulders, triceps, and upper back. Here is what those MQ numbers mean:

80 MQ: Needs work
100 MQ: Average
120 MQ: Fit
140 MQ: Athletic
160 MQ: Skulpted

You can also connect up different profiles to the device, for up to six people.

Have a look at the product video.

Motivation

We have been using Skulpt Aim for a number of months now. It definitely is a great motivator as it allows you to see changes in your body resulting from your workouts.

We have actually seen the MQ and fat % decrease on days we have not gone to the gym, and over time, you can spot clear trends. And the fact that you can measure the quality of individual muscles allows you to understand where you need most work.

Overview

The verdict

The Skulpt Aim is simple to use and gives you a greater understanding of your body and the muscles you need to work on. Aim also shows you how your body is changing over time. It is a great way to track progress, when it seems there is none. Also, a much better measurement than BMI or weight.

It is difficult to independently verify AIM’s measurements on your own. Do you know what your exact body fat percentage is? Probably not. So it comes down to whether or not you trust the sensors on the device to deliver accurate results. The manufacturer and a number of other professionals in the fitness industry claim that it is accurate. Our impression as well is that it is accurate.

One negative aspect however is, that measurements can vary depending on where on the muscle the sensors are placed. Even moving the sensor an inch or two to the side, can result in slightly different readings. One way around this is to measure the muscle 3 to 4 times, and obtain an average reading. And always measure at the same time in the day, preferably as soon as you wake up in the morning. Which we eventually reverted to doing. An average daily score will always be more precise than an individual reading.

Skulpt Aim Gadgets & Wearables may get a commission

Serious workout enthusiasts and personal trainers will adore the new Skulpt Aim. This is however a first generation advice – one that uses ground-breaking technology. As a first generation advice, it is excellent.

Aim will give you greater insight and enables you to measure the result of your fitness achievements, to better understand when you are losing fat and gaining muscle. We are very excited where this technology will lead us, and will be looking forward to further innovative products in this area.

UPDATE: Skulp has, since this review, released a new version of the device – the Chisel. The main difference between the first and second generation tracker is that the original Aim has a screen, while the new device has no screen. This enables the Chisle to have a battery life that is twice as long. The Chisel also costs less than the original device. You can read our review of the new gadget on this link.

We are a review site that receives a small commission from sales of certain items, but the price is the same for you. Purchasing items by clicking on links in this article allows us to run this website. We are independently owned and all opinions expressed here are our own. See our affiliate disclosure page for more details.

Like this article? Subscribe to our monthly newsletter and never miss out!

The post Review: Skulpt Aim – hand held body fat monitor appeared first on Gadgets & Wearables.