The following body composition measurements are recommended for determining body fat percentage:

1. Skinfold: Requires skinfold calipers and a trained tester to be accurate. Using the same person to administer each test is also helpful for reliability. To become good at testing skinfold, read protocols carefully and locate anatomical markers accurately. Then, practice it often to become good.
2. Girth Measurement: Not as good as skinfold, but this does take actual body readings which give an indication of composition changes.

NOT recommended:

• BMI: Because it only relies on height and weight, this method can be very inaccurate in determining body composition.
• Bioelectrical impedance: There are many different machines that measure body fat using an electrical stimulus. These include scales, handheld units, and more sophisticated clinical models. These devices are fairly good at "guessing" body fat percentage based on the values inputted such as height, weight, gender, and age. The bioelectrical aspect of these machines are not to precise or accurate at measuring body fat.
• Weight: Using a scale only tells weight, and fat doesn't weigh that much relative to other body tissues and fluids.

Recommended if you have special access or money:

• DEXA
• Hydrostatic Weighing
• Bodpod

Resources

• Body Fat Calculator by Linear
• Girth Measurement