The first thing everyone does with an InBody results sheet is flip it over, look at the forty-odd numbers, and quietly put it in a drawer.
Fair. The sheet is dense. But you don't need forty numbers. You need four, and once you know what they mean, that page turns from a printout into a plan. Here's how a coach actually reads one.
Skeletal muscle mass: the number worth building
Skeletal muscle mass is the muscle you can train, grow, and lose. It's the engine behind every flight of stairs and every grocery carry, and after 40 it's the number quietly declining unless something is asking it not to.
Your sheet plots it against a healthy range for your height. Below the range is the finding that matters most, because low muscle, not weight, is what makes bodies fragile. And here's the part worth underlining: the goal isn't a number on someone else's chart. It's the direction of your own. Muscle mass that climbs scan over scan means the training is working, whatever the scale says.
Body fat percentage: what the scale and BMI can't see
Two people can share a height, a weight, and a BMI while one carries twenty more pounds of muscle than the other. The scale can't tell them apart. Body fat percentage can, which is why it's the honest replacement for the number most people weigh themselves by.
The sheet shows your percentage against a healthy range for your age and sex. Most adults who start training don't need it to plummet. They need it to drift down slowly while muscle holds or climbs, which brings us to the pattern below.
Visceral fat level: the health number
Visceral fat is the fat stored around your organs, and it's the kind most tied to health risk, which is why your doctor cares about your waistline more than your weight. InBody scores it on a simple scale, and the sheet marks the line you want to stay under.
If one number on the page deserves action, it's a high score here. The good news: visceral fat responds unusually well to exactly the boring things a training habit provides, consistent strength work and modestly better eating. It's often the first thing to improve.
Segmental analysis: where old injuries hide
The bottom of the sheet breaks muscle out limb by limb: each arm, each leg, your trunk. This is the part almost everyone skips and the part a coach reads first.
A left leg measurably weaker than the right is usually a story. The knee surgery from 2019, the ankle you babied for a year, the desk decade. Imbalances like that are where future injuries come from, and they're fixable once a program targets them. A printout can't do that for you, which is why going through results with a coach beats reading them in the parking lot.
What should change first once I start training?
Strength moves before the sheet does. In the first month, weights climb while the scan barely blinks. Then the pattern shows up: muscle mass edging up, fat mass edging down, often while total weight barely moves. That's body recomposition, and it's why people who only own a bathroom scale quit right before it gets good.
Rescan every month or so and let the trend, not any single scan, tell the story.
Frequently asked questions
How accurate is an InBody scan? Accurate enough that gyms, clinics, and researchers use it to track change over time, which is its real job. Scan under similar conditions each time and the trend line is what you trust.
Do I need to prepare for a scan? Lightly. Skip a heavy meal or a hard workout right beforehand, drink water like a normal person, and scan at roughly the same time of day when you repeat it.
What's a good body fat percentage? It depends on your age and sex, and your results sheet shows the healthy range for both. Where you sit inside that range matters far less than which direction you're moving.
How do I get an InBody scan in Edina? Right here. We offer the InBody scan at no cost and with no membership required, and a coach sits down with you to go through the results. Scans begin when our doors open in October 2026, and you can get on the list now.
Get your own numbers
Reading about the sheet is useful. Holding your own is better. Get on the list for a scan at Alloy Personal Training Edina Southdale, 6805 B York Ave S, or go one step further and book a Starting Point Session, where the scan comes with a movement assessment and a plan.