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this post was submitted on 18 Sep 2023
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the_dunk_tank
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It's the dunk tank.
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I knew someone who cared a lot about bf snd got down to 5%.
It did not look healthy. Mostly dehydrated.
It's definitionally not healthy. I've been sub 10% body fat as part of a personal goal/experiment before and it's pretty fucking awful and totally unsustainable. 10-15% is maintainable for most people and you still have visible definition....but when you'e talking about stage ready bodybuilders or even some more modern shirtless scenes in movies it should always be stressed: they've literally starved themselves in preparation for this brief few minutes/hour long window. Absolutely nobody in the world looks like 24/7 365. It simply isn't possible even with drugs and even if it were nobody would want to live that way
The thing is if you are at that amount of bf% you know it because of how miserable you are and there's no "yeah man I'm about 10% bf" it's all high school wrasslin bullshit. Which is why I'd literally just ask them if they pulled it out of their ass or if they did a DEXA
I dunno what a DEXA is, but when I certified for wrestling the athletic trainer was purposely generous with their measurements and I came in at 10% body fat. This was after cutting 15 pounds of fat and when I started I had a six pack. Those last few pounds were a miserable time.
So anyway, what's the point of this story? If I had to guess, my comfortable floor is probably 10% body fat. I was probably a bit lower when I certified and miserable because of it. When I was probably around 15% body fat I looked great.
Anyway if you actually know your body fat percentage you're either a wrestler or have an unhealthy obsession. Hell if know what I am now, I've lost loads of muscle and gained a little fat. You can still see a few abs, but I don't have the full six pack anymore.
DEXA is basically an X-ray of your body, high school wrestling is notorious for giving people the impression that they are at a way lower bf% than they actually are which leads to people saying "yeah I was at 10% bodyfat when I did wrestling because my coach said so", at that percentage doing actual wrestling would've seriously impacted your performance it's generally just not where most athlete wants to be even endurance athletes like Ironman runners and triathletes will be around 12% bf
Ah. I'd love to see some data on the DEXA vs the pinch test. We certified at the beginning of the year and were forbidden from going below 7% based on those numbers, but I don't know of anyone who actually bumped up against that limit, even with the deflated numbers (according to you, anyway). The bottom of my cut was absolutely no fun, and I refused to wrestle that low in part because of that. I had to flex my legs a few times before getting out of a chair or I'd get light headed.
I don't really care what the real number is, so long as we're all working from the same methods and data and the advice is being given based off those methods. Ultra low body fat isn't something to be proud of any more than ultra high body fat or extra "perfect."
Sure here you go, if I remember it right they used a 5 pinch test instead of the more normal 3 pinch people can do on themselves. I found this one that used a three pinch method the mean BF% for pinching was 11.59% vs 21.35% with DEXA.
This is kind of my gripe with calipers for bf% don't get me wrong I think they can be a good tool to measure change in body composition because if you pinch the same way it'll show you changes happening but actual bf% is tricky and super dependent on where you pinch and how often. Based on your account I believe you that you were really low bf% because it was the same for me, I err on the side of skepticism because of just how much broscience there is out there.
Wow! Very cool data! Judging by these numbers I was probably more like 18-20% fat at my lowest. Humans are fattier than I've been taught!
Of course, this gives us the classic problem of having to stick with a flawed technique thanks to years of data and advice built up around it, or update your formulas and adjust the old data to better reflect reality. Fun stuff either way. Thanks for the articles!
I think what people sometimes forget is that our brains and our bone marrow is almost entirely fat and makes up around 5-6% of our body, but this again is just a bit the problem some will be able to do measurements that are closer to a DEXA and some will have one that's further away. It's a good tool for measuring change in bf% but yeah depending where and how often people pinch you'll have variance and almost always it'll get undercounted because you can't pinch brain matter or marrow.
Thanks! I appreciate it. Normally I would search myself but I've acquired a disability that can make it difficult sometimes.
I'm right there with you. I don't give a shit what the number is, I just want consistent data.
I had mine legitimately measured at 10.2% by bioimpedance in a gym this year. It’s definitely possible to legitimately get this number as a result of a measurement, although this certainly might vary by body type and measurement, etc.
BIA is honestly not that good, just depending on how much you drink you can read as 5% lower than you actually are, there's a reason why most lifters will generally ignore all the non DEXA results. Yes it is possible to get low bf% but the person that did it would know once you get towards single digit it is something you mentally and physically feel. It's genuinely miserable and doesn't look good, when you see some somewhat built guy with ok definition but not super dehydrated they are probably around 15% so many people just don't know how much fat is needed to like fill out our body.
Yeah, that makes sense.