I recently wrote about my experience with a personal trainer at a local gym, and the interaction we had about my doubt about the body fat number he measure for me.
Yesterday I was at another location of the same gym, waiting for yoga class to start. Another personal trainer walked by with the same apparatus, and asked if anyone wanted to have their measurement taken.
I volunteered, and I got the same inflated measurement they gave me before. Again…I told him I had two degrees in nutrition and fitness-related fields, that I'd managed an exercise testing laboratory during graduate school, and the numbers simply were not consistent with what I knew about my exercise level and my body type.
Again, he backed off and gave me a lower estimate that was almost exactly what the other trainer had given when I put pressure on him.
It's not about vanity. I actually went shopping for jeans right after yoga class and discovered that with all of my exercise over the past year I've DROPPED a size.
It's about what looks to be a scam on the part of gyms--to give you an inflated body fat measurement in an attempt to sell you personal training sessions.
Don't fall for it.
If you MUST have your body fat measurement taken, have it done by someone who has no financial gain to derive from overestimating your actual number. And/or…have it performed by two different people employed by two different organizations.