jrock645- The BF% thing sorta surprised me. As I`m sure I`ve posted before, I had mine tested regularly for years, and the first time I had it done I figured I was a bit under 10%; hey, I could clearly see my abs and sure didn`t *look* like somebody with "much bodyfat at all". Surprise surprise...I was right around 11%
Lowest I ever got was just under 5% and I looked terrible (and didn`t feel too great either). I was injury-prone at that level too, deliberately upped my BF when I was doing CQB training to avoid getting (too) hurt.
I haven`t had mine tested for ages, so I can`t really say what it is now. The whole "age factor" thing kinda bugged me, one day the readings equaled one thing and the next week the same reading meant something else because I was "older" (presumably the diff is based on bone density).
These days I just go by looks. As long as I can clearly see my abs and there`s visible vascularity in that area I`m satisfied. Seeing veins and striations always meant <9% back when I was tested, but who knows what the tests would say now.
My actual waistline hasn`t changed significantly for decades, although I used to gain maybe a 1/2" during the Holidays that was all fat (always lost it by early Feb.).
Those pics in magazines/on the `net where [some personality] supposedly has "5% BF" absolutely deserve those scare-quotes based on my experiences.
How did you determine yours to be around 15%?
Bookmarks