Skulpt Aim takes the measure of your muscles
There’s a new entry in the “quantified self” arena: A device that measures your muscle.
The Skulpt Aim dubs itself the most advanced fitness tracker of its kind because of the way it keeps tabs on the tone and quality of your muscles, as well as your body fat. It takes over where the average activity tracker drops off, giving you a “granular” view of how your diet and fitness regimen are working.
The device is about the size of a deck of cards and is equipped with 12 sensors that you moisten and then place against bare skin. Electrical currents take it from there. Skulpt’s website says this method is based on the process used to treat patients with neuromuscular disorders, such as ALS, and is more accurate than the bathroom scales that measure your body fat along with your weight.
A simple-to-use smartphone app guides you through it all and stores the information. Testing can be done in the bathroom after a shower, which sure beats standing in the middle of a gym or doctor’s office while a guy with a set of calipers tries to pinch an inch or three.
You’ll get two overall readings to begin with: body fat, and muscle quality, based on measuring your upper arm, your abdomen and your front thigh. You can measure as often as you’d like, while you (presumably) work to bring the body fat number down and the muscle quality number up.
My MQ was deemed average — 106. By contrast, P90X creator Tony Horton, who is partnering with Skulpt Aim, clocks in at a super-fit 149. His body fat is 9.6%. (No way I’m telling you mine.)
The Skulpt Aim retails for $199, although this week it was being offered at $149 on the website. But at that price, you have to ask: Will this be another gadget that you obsess over until the novelty wears off and it ends up in your junk drawer?
If you can afford it, the Skulpt Aim could provide the motivational edge you need to keep walking past the doughnuts.
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