Skulpt for estimating body fat and muscle quality

[Dominique]

In a recent post, I mentioned I had ordered a Skulpt as the latest tool/gadget/toy (pick up your choice ) in my "quantifying-self" arsenal. I’ve just received it and I thought I’d write a review, so here it is.

Skulpt is a crowd-funded (Indiegogo) company and its founders have some impressive-looking credentials (neurologist at Harvard Medical School, MIT electrical engineering graduate). Their product works with electrical impedance, like the Fitbit Aria smart scale (I’ve had one since 2013), but instead of sending a current only through your feet, it does it at multiple spots on your body (so should be more accurate, at least on paper). In addition to body fat, it also purports to assess what it calls "muscle quality".

After initial problems pairing the Skulpt scanner to my phone (which I solved with their FAQ) and creating an account, I could get started. A bit like with antivirus software, there are two types of scanning: quick and full. Quick scan involves 3 muscles (triceps, lower abs, quads), while full involves 24 muscles (12 pairs, e.g. left and right hamstrings). For each muscle, the app provides placement instructions:

 Once the scanner has established contact (enough moisture) and processed the muscle in question, it displays stats (body fat and muscle quality) for it. This what I got for lower abs:

Once all three muscles have been processed (quick scan), a summary is displayed:

 An overall body fat % and muscle quality index is computed. Some algorithm must be used (it’s not just the average of the three muscle). My Aria currently rates me at 18% body fat and the Skulpt saw me about 2% lower, so they’re quite close. Muscle quality puts me in the upper range of "fit" (but not quite "athletic", so two years of weight lifting must have brought some results .

I just ended a 5-month "bulking" phase during which I gained 4.5 kg and I’ve now started a 2-month "cutting" phase during which I plan to lose about 6 kg. It will be interesting to see how the Skulpt and the Aria will rate me at the end of my rapid fat loss experiment.

Overall, my first impressions are positive. I was a bit worried by the critical reviews on Amazon of their first iteration (Aim), but it seems the second iteration (Chisel, which is the one I bought) addressed a lot of the issues in the first one.

[USAF-Larry]

How did the Body Fat readings (average?) compare to the Aria, @Dominique?

[Dominique]

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@USAF-Larry wrote:

How did the Body Fat readings (average?) compare to the Aria, @Dominique?

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@USAF-Larry@: As I wrote:

"My Aria currently rates me at 18% body fat and the Skulpt saw me about 2% lower, so they’re quite close."

You can see the overall body fat % (15.9%) reported by the Skulpt on the third snapshot.

[katanel]

Hi @Dominique,

First of all, interesting review 😉

1. Have you done the full scan also? If yes you got the same body fat percentage?

2. What are the MQ values that we see in the screenshots? muscle quality or something?

3. Did you get closer values if you measure body fat 2-3 times in a row?

Thanks.

[Dominique]

@katanel:

1. Yes, I performed the full scan, and obtained exactly the same overall score (15.9% BF). It was embarrassing as one of the last muscles to be scanned was upper back and I wasn’t flexible enough to hold and press the scanner against my right upper back until proper contact was established. There was no "skip this muscle" option, so I ended up scanning left upper back twice. I should work on shoulder mobility <lol>.

They say three muscles (triceps, abs, quads) are enough for accurate results and I’ll probably do the quick scan most of the time (maybe once a week). 

2. MQ is "muscle quality", as defined on their site.

3. I did repeat the quick scan a couple of times, and got similar values. Placement of the scanner is very important. They provide clear instructions, like this one for right abs:

 Ideally, I would tattoo outlines with the shape of the scanner on each of the 24 parts of my body that need to be scanned, so as to get results that are as consistent as possible .

For optimal consistency, they advise to do the measurements in the morning (so it’s like with the Aria) and before exercising. However, they also claim hydration does not affect measurements (unlike with the Aria and other BIA scales). 

There’s also what they call "real-time scanning", but it’s only supported on iOS and I was using my Android phone. I do have an iPad, so I may try it later. It can be used to find correct placement on the muscle (= on the middle of it).

[katanel]

Hi @Dominique,

Quite interesting what you say, thanks for answering.

About the full scan: it was like you expected? I mean...has the Skulpt device shows you the muscles that you need to work more, etc.? I'm assume that this is one of the main benefits apart from bodyfat % measurement.

Let's us know also how worked the real-time scan...

Regards,

[Dominique]

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@katanel wrote:

About the full scan: it was like you expected? I mean...has the Skulpt device shows you the muscles that you need to work more, etc.? I'm assume that this is one of the main benefits apart from bodyfat % measurement.

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@katanel: Actually, I didn’t pay much attention to the individual ratings, and I also found Skulpt always uses the same three muscles (triceps, abs, quads) when determining total body fat % and total muscle quality, (which is what I’m primarily interested in), even when you perform a full scan involving all 24 muscles.

Yes, the app has a feature whereby it will suggest a training plan for your "weaker" muscles, but I’m not really interested in changing what I’m doing. My training program is focused on strength and a handful of compounds movements that work multiple muscle groups at the same time. I’m not really interested in isolation exercises for individual muscles (eg. calves), as I feel it would not be optimal use of my time.

The full scan with numbers for each individual muscle is probably something more aimed at competing bodybuilders, but I guess they usually already know what their weak parts are.