body composition and body fat

[greggut]

what is a good target body fat percentage? my current is about 25%. is that high or low for my gut size (see pic), height (6'0") and weight (195 lbs)?

where does everyone else come out?

does it make sense to have less muscle mass so you can have a higher body fat %?

[Matuso]

400% seems to work for me.

[fatso]

How do you measure it?

[greggut]

There are a ton of websites on this, just google it.

http://www.med.umich.edu/1libr/sma/sma_bodyfat_sma.htm

this is one of them.

[supersarge250]

I went to a googled website for a BMI calculator. I just closed that particular window after it told me that I was at 36.4%. Don't know how they can figure that based on just height and weight. Seems like more should be involved in it all.

[Big_fat_kiddo]

Hmm... i dont know mine, but i gues its less then 10%...

[greggut]

BFK, only a few pro athletes have less than 10%. looking at your pic i'd be surprised if you had less than 15%. u should still be able to use your fingers to measure the thinkness of the fat layer on top off the abs muscles. use that as a starting point and convert it into one of the tables that you can find anywhere online. a bit complicated, but you should get a ballpark idea.

BTW, the BMI is not a good measuer of body fat. it only looks at height and weight and gives the same answers regardless of body fat and muscle mass. in other words, it give the same answer for me as it would for a really in shape pro football player that is my height and weight, but has no gut, only muscle.

i'm trying to make all my extra weight fat to push that number up.

[bigbellywis]

i would love to be 1000% body fat but never want to be 10% body fat never again

[supersarge250]

So then, has anyone managed to find a decent site that'll help you figure it out? The military standards take 2 measurements, 3x each, at the neck and at the waist (or the biggest circumference around your belly). They take the average of each location and add them together, then multiply by a height adjustment, and then divide by an age adjustment, and come up with a percentage. I just don't know all the adjustments, since, being overweight by their standards, I'm not allowed to weigh and tape others. It just gets done to me by some skinny young office pogue.

[greggut]

this is probably one of the better sites
http://www.abcbodybuilding.com/magazine/ultimatebodyfattestingguide.htm

check the section describing the skin fold. calipers are available online for a few bucks.

of course, once you get way above the normal range measuring becomes difficult. but at that point you already know that you have made it and are really fat.

[Big_fat_kiddo]

hm... to damn hard to make any sence of it :p

[MCR Fan]

Probably less then %10. Though I'm proud of myself I made it to 115. lol