How to take body circumference measurements to track progress.

Whether your goal is to gain muscle or lose fat I highly recommend tracking your progress using body circumference measurements in addition to weighing yourself. Additionally, I highly recommend taking photos of yourself once a month because just because your bodyweight doesn’t change, doesn’t mean your body composition is not changing (which may been seen visually with the photos). If you do take photos you must ensure that you take them the exact same way every single time (same clothing, same location, same lighting).

While there are certainly other ways to track your body composition changes such as skin-fold measurements and DEXA scans the issue is that they both require a high level of expertise to get reliable results and additionally, DEXA scans are fairly costly.

While I highly recommend reading all of this as it will only take a few minutes, if you would rather watch the video I filmed on this topic then scroll to the bottom.

What is a body circumference measurement?

A body circumference measurement is simply the circumference around a specific area of your body when measured with a measuring tape.

Why use body circumference measurements?

They are essentially free (other than the cost of the tape which is inexpensive).
Anyone can take them reliably without much practice.
They tell you what is happening to specific parts of your body.
They tell you if your body is changing even though the scale may not be.

The last point is really important so I am going to provide a bit more context. Let’s say that losing fat is your goal and resistance training is part of your program (if it is not, it should be).

Scenario 1

You only use the scale to track progress and haven’t see any weight-loss for a month so you assume that you are not losing fat.

Scenario 2

You have been using both the scale and a measuring tape to track your progress. After a month your bodyweight is the same but after measuring your waist you discover that you have lost an inch and after measuring your upper arm you discover that you have gained a quarter of an inch. What happened? You likely lost fat and gained muscle (commonly referred to as recomping)! Yes, it is actually possible to lose fat and gain muscle with zero changes on the scale, this has been shown in the research.

How do you take a body circumference measurement?

For the purpose of this blog post we are going to look at how to take the most common body circumference measurements by yourself with a measuring tape (the best measuring tape to use is one that is used for sewing as they are very flexible and additionally, they are easy to find at most stores and are quite inexpensive).

In order to reliably take a measurement with a measuring tape there are three main points to keep in mind:

The measurement should be performed against your skin with no clothing on. If you do measure yourself with a piece of clothing on (which you already know isn’t a good idea) you must ensure that you measure yourself with the exact same piece of clothing on the next time you take your measurement. Why? Because the thickness of different materials varies so measuring yourself with a different piece of clothing on will foul up your measurement. Just keep it simple and measure against the skin every time.
Do not apply excessive pressure with the measuring tape. The tape should be snug against the skin but not pressing into the skin.
Take your measurements in exactly the same location every single time for reliable results.
Aim to take your measurements at the same time of day and before doing any physical activity. The main point to note here is that just like weighing yourself, be as consistent as possible for the most reliable results. For instance, if one day you weigh yourself in the morning after using the bathroom and the next day you weigh yourself after eating a meal do you think your weight will be the same? I can guarantee you that it will not!

Which specific measurements should you take?

It really depends on your goals and where you want to see progress.

For general health the most important measurement site would be the waist (waist circumference or WC) as evidence suggests that abdominal fat (also known as visceral fat) is a more important predictor of health outcomes than overall body-fat. For example, those with an increased WC are more likely to have hypertension (high blood pressure), type 2 diabetes, dislipidemia (unhealthy levels of fat in the blood) and metabolic syndrome (a group of health problems such as those just mentioned that increase your risk of stroke, heart attack and diabetes) than individuals with normal WC values regardless of bodyweight.

In order to track fat-loss or muscle-gain you could perform measurements at the following sites: forearms, upper arms, chest, calves, thighs and hips. The number of measurements you take is up to you, it just depends on how much information you want.

What do I advise?

More measurements are generally better in my opinion as it is pretty darn cool to have some concrete evidence about the changes that your body is undergoing.

Specific measurement instructions.

Before getting into the specific instructions it is important to note that when measuring certain sites such as the upper arm for example, your elbow could be flexed or extended, it could also be tensed or relaxed.

Let’s say that you want to record both a flexed elbow measurement with your biceps and triceps tensed as well as a relaxed measurement with your arm straight, great! Just make sure to record these details along with your measurements.

Remember! The key to reliable measurements is to perform them exactly the same way every single time.

Below are measurement sites that are most easily performed by yourself.

Additionally, in order to better explain how to perform the body circumference measurements listed below I have filmed a short video that shows you exactly how to perform the measurements by yourself. Please take a look at the video as it goes into much greater detail.

Calves (widest part)
Upper arms (widest part)
Forearms (widest part)
Thigh (just below the buttocks or mid thigh)
Hips (widest part of buttocks)
Waist (narrowest point or with tape above the top of the iliac crest or hip bone)