William Morris, the product manager at seca North America, shares why introducing body composition analysis is a major win for both members and gyms.
Fitness and conditioning are assessed in five key metrics: aerobic, muscular strength, endurance, flexibility and body composition. Here, we’ll take a closer look at the importance of body composition assessments and the major contribution it can make to your service offerings.
Additional Unique Selling Point
Most fitness centers in a given service area are still evaluating their members’ body composition by simply referencing body mass index (BMI). This misses the mark, both in terms of providing meaningful information at a personal level, and in the opportunity to bring new value and dispel misconceptions. BMI, the correlation of height and body weight, finds its best and most relevant use case as a statistical indicator for populations in the context of public health.
At the individual level, BMI itself lacks meaning and is widely misunderstood. It does not provide an objective measure of total body fat or lean mass, and much less actionable insights for improving fitness. The current reigning Mr. Olympia can have a BMI identical to your gym member who is obese.
By moving away from a misplaced focus on BMI in regards to the person and embracing body composition analysis (BCA), the door opens to provide your customers a wealth of new fitness guidance and expertise they often are not getting at competing venues.
Customer Motivation: Knowledge is Power
Industry-leading BCA technologies provide quick assessment of body composition while standing, combined with user-interface graphics, charts, printable reports and secure cloud access by desktop or mobile, so customers can track their progress and see their fitness level in a new way, even when away from the gym. For professionals, introducing a personalized BCA experience to their clients provides a recurring schedule of relationship building interactions between member and staff, along with opportunities to demonstrate impactful expertise to educate and inspire clients in pursuit of increasing lean muscle mass or decreasing fat mass.
Structure Fitness Plans Around BCA Targets
BCA provides a plethora of actionable data from a health and fitness perspective. In fact, the precise measurement of lean muscle — segmented by limb and torso — fat mass, total body water and visceral adipose tissue (VAT) in its most critical form in the abdominal area, together with other related indicators, present the total picture of body composition. Using this to establish an initial baseline, professionals can design training plans together with clients to set milestones for BCA improvements — such as increasing lean mass in the legs and larger back muscles, or decreasing VAT in the abdominal area — and to measure and chart progress with precision.
Medical-validated Analysis
Another key differentiator of cutting-edge BCA is the use of medical-validated measurement results. Simply stated, this means the bioimpedance analysis (BIA) technology used by the body composition device has been validated and published in peer-reviewed scientific journals for accuracy to the particular scientific gold standards for the measurement of body composition in its various categories. As an example, the gold standard for measurement of skeletal muscle mass as an aspect of body composition is MRI.
Opportunity awaits in 2022 for clubs and professionals who are ready to differentiate their business, and take customer experience and loyalty to a new level. Introducing industry-leading body composition solutions as a key basis for fitness programs is a major win for both members and the business.
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William Morris is the product manager at seca North America and a 20-year veteran in the medical device industry. He can be reached at william.morris@seca.com or visit seca.com.
