Weir, J., H. Klein, JT Lightfoot. The effects of acute exercise on skinfold thickness . Southeastern Regional American College of Sports Medicine, Feb. 1991.
It is possible that an acute bout of exercise could lead to inaccurate skinfold measurements due to reflex thermoregulatory increases in skin blood flow and later affect an individual's exercise prescription. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine if an acute bout of exercise would alter skinfold thickness. Fourteen subjects (26±1 yrs, 172.5±1.9 cm, 67.7±3.3 kg; mean±SE), underwent three randomly assigned separate treatments (trtmt1, trtmt2, trtmt3) seated at a modified cycle ergometer. Forearm blood flow (fbf) via venous occlusion pleythsmography and HR were measured at rest and during 20 min of exercise. Each treatment also required the measurements of seven skinfold sites (subscapula, tricep, anterior chest, mid-axilla, anterior abdomen, suprailiac, and anterior thigh) prior to and immediately after exercise. For medical screening purposes all participants were subjected to maximum stress and maximum VO2 (41.4 ml O2/kg/min ± 2.0 ml O2/kg/min) tests. Trtmt1 (control) required the subject to sit at the cycle ergometer for 20 min. while measurements were taken; trtmt2 required the subject to pedal at 60 rpm for 20 min. without resistance; trtmt3 required the subject to pedal at 60 rpm for 20 min against the resistance calculated as being necessary to elicit each individual's 60% ov VO2max. during trtmt3 the fourteen subjects reflected an average increase of 104% in FBF and an average increase of 133% in HR. While there was an increase in skin blood flow during exercise, as shown in FBF, skinfold thickness immediately after exercise was not altered significantly:
Sum of Seven Pre-Ex
Trtmt1 92±8
Trtmt2 85±7
Trtmt3 85±7
Sum of Seven Post-Ex
Trtmt1 88±7
Trtmt2 84±7
Trtmt3 84±7
The present findings indicate that an acute bout of exercise would not lead to erroneous skinfold measurements in spite of the autonomic thermoregulatory processes.