No More Tape Test?

Big green is looking into it:

No more tape test? Army study to reevaluate body fat program

The Army will formally study the body compositions of more than 2,000 soldiers beginning in October, and the service plans to use the data it gathers to determine the future of its body composition program, physical fitness manuals and the much-maligned “tape test.”

The Army’s Center for Initial Military Training will lead the study in conjunction with the Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine, according to an Army Headquarters execute order obtained by Army Times.

The study will take place at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, the order says.

The study’s goal is to provide senior leaders with “information with regards to...taping of soldiers, body fat, and body changes, and considerations of the relationship between body fat and fitness levels,” the order reads.

The study will also evaluate alternative methods of calculating body fat.

Cont:

https://www.armytimes.com/news/your-...y-fat-program/

Troops better stay in shape. There are methods that can't be cheated.

BE nice if they would go with Dexa or Bod Pod. No method is perfect and these are expensive, but guessing the most accurate

I was one of the crash test dummies in the 1985 study that determined the tape was at least as accurate as the pinch. At the time the under water weighing/volumetric displacement test was the gold standard. The problem with it was it took a lot of special equipment to perform.

The tape test was chosen because it required no special equipment. Tape measures were everywhere. The pinch test required the calipers. BTW, I had four techs do the pinch test on me, everyone of them came up with a different result.