Wednesday, April 8, 2015

Skulpt Aim Review - A Device that Measures Body Fat and Muscle Quality

The last time I remember being checked for my body fat was at the gym when I was seeing a personal trainer as a free promo when I joined. I remember holding a device with two hands and waiting a while (maybe 15-20 sec) before the results. It was pretty neat to see my body fat percentage drop in 4 weeks. I went from 25.4% to 24.8%. This was at a time when I was working to lose my baby weight from my second child, so seeing any type of progress was a plus. 

When I was approached to review the Skulpt Aim, I thought this would be a great way to see where I was currently in regards to body fat and muscle quality. I was intrigued by how this device worked. It uses something called electrical impedance myography or EIM to calculate results. You can read more about the science of the device here. I was provided the Skulpt Aim in exchange for my honest review, all opinions are my own.

To use the Skulpt you need an IPhone 5 or Android Device with Bluetooth Smart Ready and you are required to download the Skulpt App. After charging the device for at least 2 hours it's ready for use. I had to sync the device to my phone which was pretty simple and then the device needed an update and then it was ready for measurements.

The Skulpt is nicely sized, about the size of a small cell phone with sensors on the back. 
The device is easy to use once you get the hang of the buttons. I was thrown off a bit because the device does not have touch screen, but I got used to it pretty fast. You need to use the buttons on the side and it gets easier over time. Just enter your height, weight, age, sex, etc. and then you can go through either a single muscle, total body, or all muscles for measuring. I chose the total body which measures 4 muscles for total bodyfat and MQ (Muscle Quality). It asks to measure your biceps, triceps, abs, and quads (later I went through every muscle).

For each muscle you measure, you need to spray the sensors with water and then place it on the designated muscle. It's a simple process and I like how the measurements are instant. 
You then sync the AIM device to the App on your cell phone and that is where you can analyze the results.
These pics below were taken from the App on my IPhone.
It shows the areas that are weaker than others which is nice to see, so you know what areas you need to work on. You can measure every day if you want and see immediate measurements. I was happy to see that my fat % has gone down to 19.9% from the last time I was checked at the gym (24.8%). That was about 4 years ago so I'm thinking the device seems pretty accurate. I have been running and cross training a lot more since then so it is really nice to see that my body fat has gone down and I am in the "fit" range. 

Overall, I'm impressed with this device. I really like that it is compact and easy to use. It's really neat to have something that shows your muscle quality on top of body fat. The only con I see is that it is not touch screen, but it's not horrible as I got used to the buttons fairly fast.

I do see myself using this often to track my progress as I continue training. This info will be very useful in helping me improve my overall fitness.

12 comments:

  1. This is very cool! Great review too! I would love one of these. I am a numbers girl when it comes to fitness and seeing them motivates me to improve and get better, this would be a great tool! Thanks for sharing!

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  2. Nice review! I'm really liking the device too! It's nice that you had something to compare it with somewhat when you went to the gym. That's a big difference in the time to get the measurements.

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  3. I agree with you this is a really cool device! I was trying to do a touch screen thing on mine as well. I guess we're all trained by our smartphones!

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  4. Thanks Kristy! It is really nice to see the measurements to know where improvements need to be made!

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  5. Thanks Sherry!! It was nice to compare my body fat to when I was measure last.

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  6. It is!! Hehe good to know I'm not the only one. :)

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  7. Seems like a super cool device - high tech! I have something on my scale like that but I would guess mine is not that accurate.

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  8. I've seen a couple of reviews on this and it's really interesting. I'd love to try it out and you explained it very well.

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  9. Thanks Diane! It is really cool!

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  10. My fat is 33%.
    Yikes.
    I am going to use my Skulpt Aim once a month to see how that changes as I get back on track.

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  11. No worries Abby. It's great you will be using your Skulpt to see how much it changes as you get back on track. I'm betting that number will go down. You can do it!

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