Hello! I’m Jeff Tesch. I started my business in 1980 when I designed and built my first hydrostatic weighing system for an executive fitness club in the Chicago area. I had been employed as a lab tech at an exercise physiology laboratory and I convinced the club owners that I could build a better “dunk tank” than the one we had at the university. They took me up on it and I put together a “hydro” system which they used until the club closed. One of the owners liked it so much that he took it with him when he relocated to a university in Idaho where it was used for another 20 years. A few months after I built that first system I was contacted by a couple of hospitals to design and build systems for them. Throughout my 28 years in academia EXERTECH remained a “hobby business” as I steadily improved on the design of hydro tanks and weighing systems and I continued to build equipment for fitness facilities throughout the US and overseas. When I left the teaching business hydrostatic weighing equipment became my primary focus.
Over the years I learned more and more about other methods used to “guesstimate” body fat percent and my interest in hydrostatic weighing became much more than a business – it became a crusade. The more I participated in research to evaluate the validity of various new gadgets that were being marketed as body fat measuring devices, the more I realized that they all were trying to establish their validity by comparing their measurements to actual body density from hydrostatic weighing. And it turns out, hydrostatic weighing is still the simplest and most accurate way to estimate the fat percent and lean body mass of a living person. It is still the “gold standard” no matter what the gadget makers may say.
Over the last 40 years I have worked with some talented engineers, computer scientists and manufacturers to develop unique equipment for weighing people in the water using a weighing platform suspended underwater from one or more load cells. EXERTECH’s proprietary electronics is battery powered so there is no electrical shock hazard. Data is transmitted to a computer by telemetry (radio waves) so there are no wires between the weighing system and the computer. EXERTECH software is continuously upgraded and is the best in the world.
Weighing systems are available on floats for use in a swimming pool, or without floats to rest on top of a water tank or small therapy pool. EXERTECH also sells hydrostatic tanks of stainless steel and other materials designed exclusively for weighing people who are partially or completely immersed in water.
The latest innovation is “head above water” hydrostatic weighing. Head volume is estimated using 2 girths (via tape measure) and subjects are weighed in the water without the need for head submersion. Body volume is determined from water displacement and the estimated head volume is added to it. This method provides more stable weight measurements and is more comfortable for individuals who do not like to put their heads underwater.
Please check out EXERTECH products and contact me to discuss your needs. Jeff Tesch – Owner.
For information please contact:
EXERTECH®
31144 Old Mill Road
Dresbach, MN 55947
Office: 507-643-8324
Cell: 507-313-1950
Email: exertech@acegroup.cc