Coach Mark Ottobre shows how to measure the chin skinfold for body-fat assessment. He demonstrates proper positioning, caliper placement, and hand grip, then explains the protocol: take at least two readings per site, a third if they differ significantly, aiming for consistent results.
So first things first, we're going to get into the chin, but before you even grab the client and start touching them, you always need to make sure that you do your due diligence as a coach and tell the client what they're going to do. So what this is going to look like is I'll say to Jade, hey Jade, today I'm going to do the skinfolds on you. It's a 12-side body fat test. I am going to be pinching and taking measurements from your body. Is that okay? Yes, certainly. Wait for client confirmation. This is just part of being professional and making sure, because if you go in and the client has no idea what you're doing and you start grabbing them, they're going to be like, what the hell going on. So make sure you do that before grabbing and taking any sights. This is just part of a standard procedure that you do. So the first one is the chin. So Jade's just going to stand exactly where she is, just getting her to look up ever so slightly. So the way— the best way to do this is you take your index finger, you put it at the edge of Jade's— or the edge of your client's chin. Now I'm going to get my calipers and I'm going to put it right next to where my finger is and let go. So when you're doing a skin fold, you wanna think of, you wanna find the site. So now I found the site, that's where it is. Now I'm gonna get my body into position. So you can see here now my body, Jade is obviously shorter than I am. So I need to kind of reach down. Now, always when taking a skin fold, see how my hand is now completely opened. I put it at the bottom of Jade's chin. I pull everything together and pulling in a downward direction. Now the calipers, pretty much perpendicular with Jade. So that's my measurement. I've kept my trigger figure on, and now I'm gonna let go. Now, one of the things is with every sight— I'm gonna say this— is if you're new to measurements, once you get more experienced, one sight should be sufficient, but always take two measurements. And if you're completely off, then you're gonna need to take a third measurement. So mine are pretty much bang on both measurements there. And that's how you do the chin. Very, very simple.
