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Appendicular Lean Mass Index Calculator

Enter your arm+leg lean mass, height and sex to get your ALMI.

How it is calculated

The index divides the lean mass of both arms and both legs by height squared: ALMI = ALM ÷ (height in m)², with ALM in kilograms and height entered in centimetres and converted to metres. The result is in kg/m². It is compared with one fixed cut-off per sex: 7.0 kg/m² for men and 5.5 kg/m² for women. Below the cut-off the tool shows a sarcopenia-risk message, at or above it a normal message. It also gives the index as a percentage of the cut-off, ALMI ÷ cut-off × 100. Inputs outside a plausible range (ALM above 100 kg, height under 50 cm or over 272 cm) show no result. The ALM value is not measured by the tool; it normally comes from a DEXA scan. A single index is a screening number, not a diagnosis, and other guidelines use different cut-offs.

Worked example

A man 175 cm tall with 22 kg of arm and leg lean mass from a scan. Height in metres is 1.75, squared 3.0625. ALMI = 22 ÷ 3.0625 = 7.18 kg/m². The male cut-off is 7.0, so he is above it: the category reads Above cutoff — normal. As a share of the cut-off: 7.18 ÷ 7.0 × 100 = 102.62%.

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Common mistakes

  • Entering total lean body mass instead of arm plus leg lean mass; the index then looks far higher than it should.
  • Entering the weight of the whole body or the muscle estimated by a scale that does not separate limbs.
  • Typing height in metres (1.75) instead of centimetres; the tool treats this as an impossible height and shows no result.
  • Choosing the wrong sex: the same 6.24 kg/m² is above the cut-off for a woman (5.5) but below it for a man (7.0).

Sources

About this calculator

The appendicular lean mass index (ALMI) is calculated as the combined lean (muscle) mass of both arms and both legs, measured by DEXA scan, divided by height in meters squared: ALMI = appendicular lean mass (kg) ÷ height² (m²), mirroring how BMI relates weight to height but focused specifically on limb muscle rather than total body weight.

Geriatricians and researchers use ALMI as the primary diagnostic measure for sarcopenia — age-related loss of muscle mass and strength — with the widely cited Baumgartner cutoffs flagging low muscle mass at roughly ALMI below 7.26 kg/m² in men and below 5.45 kg/m² in women (though updated consensus definitions, such as those from the European Working Group on Sarcopenia in Older People, EWGSOP2, use somewhat different thresholds combined with grip strength and physical performance). Sports scientists also track ALMI in athletes to monitor limb-specific muscle development over a training cycle, separate from total body composition.

Divide combined arm and leg lean mass by height squared and you have ALMI; the result is checked against screening cutoffs of 7.0 kg/m² for men and 5.5 kg/m² for women (EWGSOP2, 2019; the Asian Working Group for Sarcopenia 2019 uses 7.0 for men but 5.4 kg/m² for women with DXA), showing where your limb muscle mass sits against those references.

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