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Bod Pod
Invasion of the Bod Pod
Invasion of the BOD POD
By Dan Pompei
The Sporting News - Apr. 26, 2004
T
he number that concerns NFL teams about
Miami defensive tackle Vince Wilfork is
345. That was his playing weight for 2002
and most of 2003.
The number that allays those concerns is
256. That is the weight of his lean body
mass, as measured by a state of the art device called the
BOD POD.
"It's a diagnostic piece, not an
evaluation piece," Colts
general manager Bill Polian
says. "For example, if a guy
was 340 pounds, and it told us
the fat content was incredibly
high, we'd say there is a
problem here. The guy might
have an eating disorder, or he's
not disciplined, whatever it
Even though Wilfork's weight
was high, the BOD POD
showed he was not in bad
shape. Wilfork checked in at
336 pounds during his visit to
Chicago two weeks ago, up 13
from what he weighed at the
Combine in February. But in
Chicago his body fat registered
at 23 percent, an acceptable
number for a player at his
position. Converted to a
skinfold caliper reading,
Wilfork's body fat would have
been about 18 percent.
JOE TRAVER / TIME LIFE PICTURES / GETTY IMAGES
Technology like the BOD POD could turn the draft,
always a crapshoot, into more of a science. The BOD
POD, which looks like a giant ornamental egg with a
window, is being used by eight teams -- the Bills,
Bears, Colts, Eagles, 49ers, Lions, Texans and a club
that prefers not to be identified. Some general managers
say they would like to see all prospects tested by the
BOD POD at the NFL Scouting Combine.
Watching their figures
Under coach Lovie Smith,
the Bears have established new
position-by-position parameters
for body-fat percentage.
The BOD POD offers a quick and accurate
may
be."
way to gauge a player's body-fat percentage.
Wide Receivers
Tight ends
Running backs
Fullbacks
Offensive linemen
Defensive tackles
Defensive ends
Linebackers
Safeties
Cornerbacks
Quarterbacks
8 percent
12 percent
10 percent
12 percent
26 percent
23 percent
18 percent
13 percent
9 percent
8 percent
Judged case
by case
That told the Bears he came down
from 345 without losing muscle. It
shows Wilfork has worked hard
and eaten fairly well. And most
important, it proves he can carry
the weight. Red flags are raised
when players such as Wilfork and
Arkansas offensive tackle Shawn
Andrews lose a lot of weight
heading into the draft.
"I'm not alarmed by weight loss,
but I want to know about it,"
Polian says. "How did he do it?
(The BOD POD) tells you whether the weight loss
is real or cosmetic or water weight. It diagnoses
what the guy's true weight ought to be." Wilfork
says he first sat in a BOD POD when he reported
to the High Intensity Training Center in
Jacksonville early in the year as part of his draft
preparation. He said his body fat was 29 percent at
the time, six percentage points higher than it is
now.
NFL teams would rather have a player like
Wilfork weigh 336 with 23 percent body fat than
have him weigh 315 with 30 percent body fat.
Having a player lose lean body mass just to get his
weight down is not going to improve his
performance.
Judging a player by his weight alone is like
judging a movie by its trailer. "If a guy's fat
weight is too high, his endurance is not going to
be there, and he's probably going to get injured,"
Polian says. "You want to measure it very
carefully. If it's too low, he'll be susceptible to
cramps and pulls. You'll have to watch him in hot
weather, take special precautions, maybe hold him
out and give him one (practice) a day instead of
two."
An extremely low body-fat reading on a draft
prospect also is useful information. It tells an NFL
team that the player has the potential to gain
weight without carrying excess fat.
Some teams provide body-fat parameters for
players at each position. The Bears recently
revised their parameters to reflect new coach
Lovie Smith's desire to have a sleeker, faster team,
though they will have exceptions for players at all
positions.
The business of determining what a player's ideal
lean body mass and overall weight should be has
become a serious one since the death of Vikings
offensive tackle Korey Stringer. The process is
regulated by the NFL and overseen by team
physicians.
Body fat has been measured by NFL teams for
years with skinfold calipers, bioelectrical currents
and underwater weighing. Calipers and
bioelectrical currents can be off by as much as 8
percent. Underwater weighing is as accurate as the
BOD POD, but it's not as quick and convenient.
For a BOD POD reading, the subject wears a pair
of Lycra shorts and a hair cap and sits in the
machine for a few minutes.
Some teams, such as the Bills, Texans and Eagles,
are more interested in using the BOD POD after
the draft than before. "We see where (rookies) are
at the end of April and try to get them where they
need to be by the beginning of training camp,"
Bills G.M. Tom Donahoe says.
"It's useful," Eagles coach Andy Reid says. "Just
don't ask me to get in it."
TSN
Senior writer Dan Pompei covers the NFL for Sporting News. Email him at [email protected].
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