6
Competitor Series Installation & Operation Manual
2.1
About Body Composition
In physical fitness, body composition is used to describe the percentages of fat, bone and muscle in human bodies.
Because muscular tissue takes up less space in our body than fat tissue, our body composition, as well as our
weight, determines how lean our body is. Two people of equal height and body weight may look completely
different from each other because they have a different body composition.
The following points describe things about body composition, its makeup and about the measuring process and are
explained in further detail below.
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Body Composition
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Obesity
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Necessity of Body Composition Analysis
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Waist to hip ratio
Body Composition
The human body consists of body fat and lean body. Lean body means non-fat constituents of the human body like
body water, muscles, and bones.
Body water is divided into intra- and extra-cellular water and the ratio between them is controlled and maintained
within a certain range. Body fat is piled beneath the skin and between abdominal organs. Body fat is hydrolyzed to
make energy needed for normal physiological functions when energy supplies through food intake is not sufficient,
but excessive fat in the body itself is a kind of disease and causes lifestyle diseases.
Healthy people maintain the balance of body composition in a steady proportion but unhealthy people fail to keep
this balance. When the balance in body composition is broken, diseases like obesity, malnutrition, osteoporosis,
etc. can occur.
Obesity
Various methods can be used to assess obesity but the key factor in obesity assessment is the amount of fat
accumulated in the body.
In general, obesity is defined as the state of not only excessive weight compared with height (visible obesity) but
also excessive body fat compared with weight (invisible or visible obesity).
Strictly speaking obesity is the state that body fat occupies considerably high ratio to weight.
Necessity of Body Composition Analysis
Body Composition Analysis is a good indicator to find possible health problems. Body composition analysis
enables professionals to find obesity or an imbalance in body composition at early stages and helps subjects keep
their body healthy. The Competitor Series is a useful preventive diagnostic device.
Waist to Hip Ratio
Waist to hip ratio (W.H.R.) shows the distribution of fat stored in one’s abdomen and hips. It is simple but useful to
assess body fat distribution. Body fat is stored in two distinct ways. They are often called 'apple' and 'pear' type.
Apple type shows bigger girth of waist than hip and pear type has bigger girth of hip than waist. If body fat in the
abdomen increases more, the risk to cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, etc. becomes higher.
Segmental Analysis
This device analyzes lean body mass of five body parts; trunk, right arm, left arm, right leg, and left leg. This
function can be used as an assessment tool to evaluate the result of exercise or rehabilitation treatment. Segmental
analysis is available only in the full body model (D1000-3) and is illustrated in the printout shown in Figure 2.2.
