can anyone tell me how to set up just a normal medical scale?
my gym scale, which is a medical scale says im around 215, my home scale, which is just a simple floor scale says im 200-202
big fuckin difference !
If anyone here has knowledge of what commercially available scale tends to be most accurate, I’d like to know.
I have two scales at home. Before my last meet, I was just under my weight class on one scale, but over a pound over my class on the other. Not cool.
And Joel, I have nothing helpful to say, other than I feel your pain.
[quote]pushmepullme wrote:
If anyone here has knowledge of what commercially available scale tends to be most accurate, I’d like to know.
I have two scales at home. Before my last meet, I was just under my weight class on one scale, but over a pound over my class on the other. Not cool.
And Joel, I have nothing helpful to say, other than I feel your pain.[/quote]
how much are you looking to spend? i remember getting a scale for wresting back in high school, those ran a few hundred, but great quality.
Hope the pic works.
On a scale you have to adjust the counter balance (arrow) with a flat head screw driver or dime will the end becomes off of each metal ending. As well I believe the proper use is that you set it to the weight you think you are before stepping on to it (I THINK I could be wrong) then adjust from there. As well you really have your weight evenly distributed on it.
We have one at our gym and I always have to adjust it. The counter balance seems to move regularly.
[quote]dshroy wrote:
[quote]pushmepullme wrote:
If anyone here has knowledge of what commercially available scale tends to be most accurate, I’d like to know.
I have two scales at home. Before my last meet, I was just under my weight class on one scale, but over a pound over my class on the other. Not cool.
And Joel, I have nothing helpful to say, other than I feel your pain.[/quote]
how much are you looking to spend? i remember getting a scale for wresting back in high school, those ran a few hundred, but great quality.[/quote]
Probably not a ton, I’m more of a bathroom scale kind of person. I just need it to be accurate…that shouldn’t be too much to ask! My $10 scale that I bought to bring to meets is more accurate than my $40 Tanita scale.
[quote]pushmepullme wrote:
[quote]dshroy wrote:
[quote]pushmepullme wrote:
If anyone here has knowledge of what commercially available scale tends to be most accurate, I’d like to know.
I have two scales at home. Before my last meet, I was just under my weight class on one scale, but over a pound over my class on the other. Not cool.
And Joel, I have nothing helpful to say, other than I feel your pain.[/quote]
how much are you looking to spend? i remember getting a scale for wresting back in high school, those ran a few hundred, but great quality.[/quote]
Probably not a ton, I’m more of a bathroom scale kind of person. I just need it to be accurate…that shouldn’t be too much to ask! My $10 scale that I bought to bring to meets is more accurate than my $40 Tanita scale.[/quote]
I would assume that a lifter girl like you has a decent selection of weights at home? Load up your scale with a known weight and see what the scale records. The more known weight you can load up, the better, even if it’s more than your BW.
If you load up 200 lbs and the scale is 199-201, I’d call that a pretty accurate scale. I picked up a $40 digital scale at Dicks, nailed my dumbbells perfectly.
but fuck! i was around 205 in my gym before christmas, and i wanted to get to 215, and now it says im 211-213
like wtf is this shit! 
and at home it says im 200-202 thats a ridiculous 12-13 lb difference… piss me off!!!
and heres the thing guys, i am pretty sure the scale is always correctly in the right place (equally measured with no weight on the scale at all) which in fuzzy apples pic, the arrow should be in the red, which is a CORRECT set up. anything above, or below that red line it is off and wont tell you your CORRECT weight.
so ill check tonight when im in the gym, if its on the line, and it says im 211, then im fuckin going with 211 !!!
grr…
[quote]samdan wrote:
[quote]pushmepullme wrote:
[quote]dshroy wrote:
[quote]pushmepullme wrote:
If anyone here has knowledge of what commercially available scale tends to be most accurate, I’d like to know.
I have two scales at home. Before my last meet, I was just under my weight class on one scale, but over a pound over my class on the other. Not cool.
And Joel, I have nothing helpful to say, other than I feel your pain.[/quote]
how much are you looking to spend? i remember getting a scale for wresting back in high school, those ran a few hundred, but great quality.[/quote]
Probably not a ton, I’m more of a bathroom scale kind of person. I just need it to be accurate…that shouldn’t be too much to ask! My $10 scale that I bought to bring to meets is more accurate than my $40 Tanita scale.[/quote]
I would assume that a lifter girl like you has a decent selection of weights at home? Load up your scale with a known weight and see what the scale records. The more known weight you can load up, the better, even if it’s more than your BW.
If you load up 200 lbs and the scale is 199-201, I’d call that a pretty accurate scale.[/quote]
YES!!! i never thought of that, god im dumb…
gonna try that tonight 
thanks buddy
How do you know the gym scale is off? I’m pretty sure the medical scales are more accurate. That screw can help you re-zero the scale but if the weights on the balance aren’t extremely accurate you’re still gonna get an incorrect reading.
Samdan, the problem with that is that you are assuming that those weights are accurate. Let’s say they have just a 1% error. You load up your scale with 200lbs of plates that actually weigh 202lbs. The scale reads 199 and you think “that’s a pretty accurate scale just one pound under”. No if you have to weigh at an exact amount you could possibly come in weighing two pounds over which is a decent amount of weight to lose depending on the time frame.
For those that want a more accurate scale are you trying to stay in a weight class? Because if not who cares if it’s off as long as it is consistent.
[quote]pvoosen wrote:
For those that want a more accurate scale are you trying to stay in a weight class? Because if not who cares if it’s off as long as it is consistent.[/quote]
Yeah, I wouldn’t care about accuracy if I didn’t have to stay in a weight class.
i just want to get to 215… then 220, and sometime or other 230.
trying to keep it slow, dont wanna get there to fast or ill be a fat fucker even if im 6’2 i hate bein fat. since i use to be a fatty when i was in highschool lol
I used weight plates to calibrate the weight, I just piled about 100-150 lbs on them and set it to that.
It’s probably best to put the amount of your weight in plates on them and calibrate them to that.
Also you should get weighed on the scale that your comparing you’re home scale to and then go immediately home and see what you weigh on that. (don’t drink water or go to the bathroom until you weigh)
That way you’ll know exactly what differences there are.
[quote]Joelsopher wrote:
but fuck! i was around 205 in my gym before christmas, and i wanted to get to 215, and now it says im 211-213
like wtf is this shit!
and at home it says im 200-202 thats a ridiculous 12-13 lb difference… piss me off!!!
and heres the thing guys, i am pretty sure the scale is always correctly in the right place (equally measured with no weight on the scale at all) which in fuzzy apples pic, the arrow should be in the red, which is a CORRECT set up. anything above, or below that red line it is off and wont tell you your CORRECT weight.
so ill check tonight when im in the gym, if its on the line, and it says im 211, then im fuckin going with 211 !!!
grr…[/quote]
Even though you’ve already said you’re gonna try to calibrate using a known weight, there’s one thing you should know. The calibration at no weight at all is completely irrelevant to anything. The counterweight on the scale could be OVERcompensating for the “no weight” and would thus give you a low reading when you used weight.
Find at least 100 lbs of iron and test your scale.
[quote]50_Caliber wrote:
I used weight plates to calibrate the weight, I just piled about 100-150 lbs on them and set it to that.
It’s probably best to put the amount of your weight in plates on them and calibrate them to that.
Also you should get weighed on the scale that your comparing you’re home scale to and then go immediately home and see what you weigh on that. (don’t drink water or go to the bathroom until you weigh)
That way you’ll know exactly what differences there are.[/quote]
Scale errors (on non-counterweight scales, and I’ve never seen a counterweight scale in any gym I’ve been in in the past 5 years) will be proportional, not absolute. So if you’re 200lbs and the scale says 210lbs, the scale isn’t adding 10lbs, it’s adding 5%. If you don’t NEED to weigh a certain amount, it’s likely going to be a negligible difference however I believe in knowing true error where possible. Goes with the engineering degree.
[quote]pushmepullme wrote:
[quote]dshroy wrote:
[quote]pushmepullme wrote:
If anyone here has knowledge of what commercially available scale tends to be most accurate, I’d like to know.
I have two scales at home. Before my last meet, I was just under my weight class on one scale, but over a pound over my class on the other. Not cool.
And Joel, I have nothing helpful to say, other than I feel your pain.[/quote]
how much are you looking to spend? i remember getting a scale for wresting back in high school, those ran a few hundred, but great quality.[/quote]
Probably not a ton, I’m more of a bathroom scale kind of person. I just need it to be accurate…that shouldn’t be too much to ask! My $10 scale that I bought to bring to meets is more accurate than my $40 Tanita scale.[/quote]
My wife bought a scale from Costco. I don’t know the brand, It’s one of those glass top ones, it’s digital, you tap it with your foot to zero it then step on. I’ve been really impressed with it. I can’t say how accurate it is but it’s exceptionally consistent. It weighs to the tenth of a pound and I can step on and off repeatedly and each time it will say the same amount. My hunch is it’s pretty accurate.