3 Site Skinfold Body Fat Calculator

Based on your weight, age, and thickness measurements of three skin folds, the following calculator estimates your % bodyfat and lean body mass. It is based on the Jackson-Pollock 3-point method and is fairly accurate for the vast majority of people. However, as with almost all popular skin fold methods, this method tends to underestimate body fat levels in very lean bodybuilders.

Unit system

MetricEnglish

Gender

MenWomen

Age

years

Weight

kg

lbs

Pectoral fold

mm

Abdominal fold

mm

Thigh fold

mm

Triceps fold

mm

Suprailiac fold

mm

Body fat

%

Lean body mass

kg

lbs

3 Site Skinfold Formula Calculator

To carry out each measurement: Pinch the skin in the measurement area with the tips of your thumb and forefinger. Pull the skin away from the muscle, being careful to ‘get’ all of the subcutaneous fat beneath the skin but not the underlying muscle. Using a ruler (metric) or skin fold callipers, measure the thickness of this fat and skin fold in millimeters. If you have callipers, place the jaws close to where the fingertips have skin pinched to get an accurate reading (about 1 cm (1/4 in) away from the fingers). Wait 2 seconds after releasing the caliper’s handles before taking the reading.

Take a few more readings of the same site (release the fold and get a new ‘pinch’ for each measurement) and average them – each reading should be within 1 or 2 mm of the other. You’ll have to make do with a ruler if you don’t have callipers.

The procedure varies depending on gender. Males are measured in the pectoral, abdominal, and thigh areas, while females are measured in the triceps, suprailiac, and thigh areas. The locations for both genders are depicted below.