1127 Highway 35 Ocean Township, NJ 07712 | 147 Markham Place Little Silver, NJ 07739 
It all has to do with the balance between fat and muscle…
A healthy ratio of fat to muscle is vital for health and wellness throughout life.
Scientific evidence shows that a healthy body composition will increase your lifespan, reduce the risk of heart disease, cancer, diabetes, insulin resistance, and other diseases, increase energy levels, and improve self-esteem.
The picture above shows two young men about the same age (26), height (6 foot) and weight (133 lbs).
Most people would think these 26 year old, six-foot-tall males weighing 133 pounds would be healthy and NOT considered obese. However, when we compare their Body Compositions — what we feel is one of the best indicators of long-term health — things turn out a little differently than expected.
The gentleman on the left has a body fat percentage of 39.8%, which puts him in the obese category. The gentleman on the right has a body fat percentage of 26.3% which is slightly above average.
Again, both men would seem to be at a supposedly “healthy” weight…but one is considered obese, thanks to his Body Composition.
The scale would make it seem like they were healthy, and the BMI Index would have them both considered “underweight.” This is why both of those methods are dangerously outdated. They are not good indicators of health, short-term or long-term.
To get your Body Composition right…and know that you’re definitely on the right track to managing your weight properly…it’s best to work with an excellent personal trainer. And you can get started by checking out our NEW 21-Day Personal Training Program.
What Is Body Composition?
Body composition is a method of describing what the body is made of. It includes fat, muscle tissue and water.
It also describes weight more accurately than a scale or BMI (Body Mass Index). Body composition analysis can accurately show changes in fat mass, muscle mass, and body fat percentage, where the scale or BMI cannot.
Why Is Body Composition Important?
When you’re thinking of losing weight or simply want to see how healthy you are, you probably will do one of two things. Either you will step on a scale or calculate your BMI.
But the truth is, these two methods don’t tell you anything about how healthy you are or what type of shape your body is in. All the scale and BMI does is compare how heavy you are to a standard that doesn’t fit your individual goals.
Also, it’s been shown that the more muscle you have, the more inaccurate a BMI is.
When trying to get healthier, you’re most likely going to lose fat and (hopefully) gain muscle (healthy weight that improves your metabolism). But BMI and the scale don’t differentiate between muscle and fat. So how can you?
A Body Composition Test can tell you exactly how many pounds of muscle you have, as well as how many pounds of fat you are carrying. It can assess a more realistic goal for weight loss as well.
If you work out for a month and do a body composition test at the beginning and end of that month, you can compare the tests to see how effective your program was. Did you lose fat and gain muscle, or did you lose valuable muscle tissue (which can lower your metabolism and make it harder to lose weight in the future)?
Benefits of a Good Body Composition
Having a good body composition has many benefits, including:
- Decreased risk of type 2 diabetes, hypertension, and heart disease
- Increased functional ability, allowing us to move and exercise more freely, which allows us to burn more calories
- A better calorie-burning metabolism throughout the day
- A lean and toned body
- Better success at losing weight permanently
The good news is, you don’t have to wait until body fat drops dramatically to see dramatic improvements in your overall health.
We have had THOUSANDS of people go through our 14-Day, 21-Day, 30-Day and 6-Week Programs here at Mike Duffy’s Personal Training. Clients start to lose body fat and gain muscle mass at a rapid pace, and that’s wonderful.
But what’s especially rewarding are the health results achieved in this short amount of time.
Clients are often amazed at how quickly their bodies begin to transform from the inside out.
As our many before-and-after testimonials reveal, at Mike Duffy’s Personal Training, you’re improving your body composition by gaining muscle and eliminating fat.
Dieting improperly will waste away muscle which can slow your metabolism, making it impossible to maintain a healthy weight in the future.
Within two to three weeks of eating and exercising on our programs, our own research has shown that blood sugar decreases markedly. So does blood pressure and cholesterol, as well as pre-diabetes, metabolic syndrome and Type 2 Diabetes.
In fact, in our programs, these conditions are often reversed.
The bottom line: losing body fat happens pretty quickly, but getting healthy can happen even faster. Especially with a program that is run by experienced, educated, certified personal trainers and nutrition counselors.
How Do I Improve My Body Composition and Get Healthy?
Anyone can improve their Body Composition. It’s simple.
All you have to do is make a few easy dietary changes and incorporate a 3x/week moderate fitness program.
Best Ways to Improve Body Composition
Depending on your individual goals, there are different ways to train that will improve your Body Composition and lead to specific results.
In other words, if you want to…
Improve Muscular Strength: Lift weights or do bodyweight exercises.
Improve Muscular Endurance: Lift weights or do bodyweight exercises, while adding cardiovascular exercises.
Improve Cardiovascular Endurance: Perform cardiovascular exercise.
Improve Nutrition: Follow a balanced diet that includes whole foods, find the proper nutrition plan for you, follow proper meal timing.
But keep in mind…all of this has to be put in the context of a plan you will follow for it to work. Putting together a program that incorporates both nutrition and exercise is the best way to improve your Body Composition.
How Do YOU Compare?
The chart shown above will tell you where your body fat percentage should be, according to your age and sex.
A simple body composition test, which is non-invasive and only takes a couple of minutes, will help determine where you fall on the chart.
Not Sure What Your Body Fat Percentage Is? We Can Help!
We’re beginning a NEW 21-Day Personal Training Program in Monmouth County, NJ. The Program, which will happen at our studios in Ocean Township and Little Silver, will instruct you in each of the 5 components of physical fitness.
When it comes to Body Composition, we will:
- Take your Body Composition
- Determine how many pounds of fat you have
- Determine how many pounds of muscle you have
- Give you a healthy, realistic Body Composition goal
- Determine a realistic time frame to meet your goal, based on your lifestyle
- Develop a fitness and nutrition program to get you to that goal as quickly and safely as possible
During the Program, you will work with an educated, experienced personal trainer who will take you through a workout in each of the 5 components to make sure you thoroughly understand each one.
Putting together each component will give you a synergistic boost to help you lower your body fat percentage which will improve your health and appearance.
In only 21 days, you’ll have a complete understanding of each component — and a balanced workout plan will be created for you to use on your own once the program is complete.