I just asked Jonathan about some details and here's what we got:

"DEXA Provides the total fat mass and lean mass in your body. It scans the entire body for all types of fat, but doesn't give you a breakdown of how much of your fat is visceral, subcutaneous or intramuscular.

The big appeal of a DEXA scan is its accuracy and its ability to measure lean mass and fat mass in each limb, android and gynoid regions, and each side of your trunk. This allows you to see where you are changing the presence of lean mass and fat mass over time with training.


The Tanita BF680w scale just gives you an overall body fat percentage, in addition to some other metrics that I don't concern myself with. It doesn't break it down into type of fat mass or location, but it is surprisingly accurate."

It's also worth mentioning that we don't need a prescription here to get one done, and that it's self-pay. But that varies from state-to-state.

Hope this helps!

edit: typo

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Get Faster with TrainerRoad

Damn, you guys are awesome. Thanks.

Heck ya! You're welcome.

Happy Training!

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Get Faster with TrainerRoad

I think you talked about this on one of your podcasts, but I can't recall for sure. I have Withings BF scale - when I set it in "athlete mode" it tells me my bf% is in the 5% range. I've been using it in the non-athlete mode, and my bf% it extrapolates is in the 12% range - this seems a lot closer to reality, hence why I've left it in that mode. Is this "athlete mode" assuming you would have a lot more muscle compared to the pathetic physique of a cyclist?

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I did a DEXA scan a few years ago when I was at my leanest. It told me I had fat legs.

It comes down to being a different calculation. The results of the athlete mode have been extremely similar to what you'd get in a traditional fat caliper test. The non-athlete mode has proven to provide measurements very close to the DEXA results.

The athlete mode is intended to provide more accurate body fat readings for individuals with greater muscle mass who tend to be more dehydrated. Since these differences would presumably skew results, Tanita created this athlete setting. Though, surprisingly enough the results come out very similar to fat caliper tests, which is a measure of subcutaneous fat (the stuff under your skin).

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Get Faster with TrainerRoad

Thanks Nick - I'll continue to use the non-athlete mode. It's not really a concern anyway, as the fat % readings do not alter my food or training in any way.

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