It looks like an escape pod, but it won’t let you bail on your fitness goals

It looks a little like a space capsule — sleek, pod-shaped, with a single window.

While it can’t actually help you explore the galaxy, it can be a useful tool in another kind of quest: for better health and fitness.

The Tri-Cities recently got a second Bod Pod, a sophisticated piece of equipment that uses air displacement to measure body composition.

“The numbers (it provides) are a better indicator than the scale of what’s going on in your body,” said Kelly Sherman, owner of Provision Nutrition.

She bought a Bod Pod this summer and is offering sessions at the Columbia Basin Racquet Club in Richland.

High Gear Coaching in Kennewick also has a pod.

The equipment measures a person’s body fat and lean mass percentages. Lean mass is muscle, bone, tendon and other non-fat weight.

The Bod Pod also determines the resting metabolic rate, which is the rate at which you burn calories while at rest.

Aaron Stites, owner of High Gear Coaching, said the data isn’t only useful for athletes, but for anyone looking to improve their health. “It’s great. It works for everyone,” he said.

Sherman agreed. It provides a baseline to make decisions about nutrition and exercise, providing a fuller, clearer and more accurate picture of the body’s makeup, she said.

“The scale just tells you what your body mass is. This tells you what’s going on inside your body,” Sherman said.

For example, based on the data, “I’m able to tell if (a client) has been eating enough calories, if they’ve been eating enough protein, what kind of workouts they’ve been doing,” Sherman said.

From that, she can help them make adjustments to reach their goals.

Sherman is a personal trainer and fitness consultant at the racquet club, and she leases space there for her Provision Nutrition and Bod Pod.

Club members and nonmembers alike can book Bod Pod sessions with her. They cost $35 for racquet club members and $45 for others.

Client Kathy Poston is active, exercising five to six times a week. While the 65-year-old Richland woman is trim and fit, she has the goal of reducing her body fat.

She’s had multiple Bod Pod measurements, her last one a few months ago.

Poston isn’t crazy about small spaces, but her time in the Bod Pod isn’t uncomfortable, she said.

Users must wear tight-fitting clothes, so she opts for a swimsuit. Sherman provides a swim cap.

The test is simple; you step inside, sit down and wait. Sherman compared the pressure to riding an elevator from the first to second floor of a building.

Poston was in and out of the pod in just a couple minutes.

Afterward, Sherman went over her numbers. There was good news — she’d dropped about 2 percent body fat since the last measurement.

“It’s a great tool. I think it’s so much better than just weight alone,” Poston said. “It tells a different story.”

High Gear Coaching is at highgearcoaching.com or 509-572-2404.

To book a Bod Pod session with Sherman, go to provisionnutrition.net or email kelly@provisionnutrition.net.

This story was originally published December 31, 2017 at 5:06 PM with the headline "It looks like an escape pod, but it won’t let you bail on your fitness goals."