Low Body-Fat Percentage

Lago

Could seem like a simple question but I'm willing to take that chance. I'm starting to wonder is a low body fat percent essential for a good looking body? I mean without building huge amounts of muscle. I've seen men who have high bodyfat pecentage (18%-19%) and yet look good because of their large amount of muscle mass. Infact I've seen a few guys who had that same percentage but had the much sought after "six-pack" because of the sheer size of their abdominal muscles.

I've never been able to reach a low level of body fat. I don't really have the means to measure it accurately but I think the lowest I was ever at was last year with 14%. Now I think I'm somewhere around 20% (if not higher) and have decided to throw caution to the wind and just bulk until I get some size. So that's why I'm asking this question

Hanley

The more muscular you get, the higher your body fat percentage can go while still looking good.

How high depends on your structure and a lot of other things that you probably won't know until you try!

davyjose

Lago wrote: »

Could seem like a simple question but I'm willing to take that chance. I'm starting to wonder is a low body fat percent essential for a good looking body? I mean without building huge amounts of muscle. I've seen men who have high bodyfat pecentage (18%-19%) and yet look good because of their large amount of muscle mass. Infact I've seen a few guys who had that same percentage but had the much sought after "six-pack" because of the sheer size of their abdominal muscles.

I don't think this is true. 18-19% is just a bit too high, but it's a decent point all the same.

Lago

Hanley wrote: »

The more muscular you get, the higher your body fat percentage can go while still looking good.

How high depends on your structure and a lot of other things that you probably won't know until you try!

I suppose I should just press on then. I've always been afraid of my body fat percentage getting too high which has led to a lot of doing heavy workouts while eating a big calorie deficit which, as you might guess, is getting me nowhere. I've never been able to get my body fat as low as I'd like (which is more laziness and indiscipline then anything) and I'm not as muscular or strong as I should be, hitting a lot of plateaus

davyjose wrote: »

I don't think this is true. 18-19% is just a bit too high, but it's a decent point all the same.

It was on a different forum, this guy posted a thread before he started doing a new workout. He posted progress pictures and said he had tested his body fat percentage to be around 18% yet in the pictures his abdominal muscles were big enough to make them fairly visible. I'd rather not re-post his picture here but some people did comment about it, although he didn't say it himself

Hanley

Lago wrote: »

It was on a different forum, this guy posted a thread before he started doing a new workout. He posted progress pictures and said he had tested his body fat percentage to be around 18% yet in the pictures his abdominal muscles were big enough to make them fairly visible. I'd rather not re-post his picture here but some people did comment about it, although he didn't say it himself

Different people store fat in different places, but at 18% that'd be ridiculous. And definitely the exception rather than the rule.

Lago

Hanley wrote: »

Different people store fat in different places, but at 18% that'd be ridiculous. And definitely the exception rather than the rule.

Well, I've only seen it a few times (And only once on someone "normal") but I just thought it was interesting and that maybe there was something in it. As in, if you keep gaining muscle you can offset the effects of too much body fat

Hanley

Lago wrote: »

Well, I've only seen it a few times (And only once on someone "normal") but I just thought it was interesting and that maybe there was something in it. As in, if you keep gaining muscle you can offset the effects of too much body fat

Deffo. If you gain muscle and don't gain fat, your body fat percentage obviously goes down directly as a result... so you can carry the same weight in fat and look significantly better.

Lago

Hanley wrote: »

Deffo. If you gain muscle and don't gain fat, your body fat percentage obviously goes down directly as a result... so you can carry the same weight in fat and look significantly better.

But how do you gain fat while not gaining fat? Surely eating a calorie surplus means you'll definitely gain fat. Or is there a certain level of calories you reach where the energy isn't used in building muscle anymore and it just turns to fat?

Hanley

Lago wrote: »

But how do you gain fat while not gaining fat? Surely eating a calorie surplus means you'll definitely gain fat. Or is there a certain level of calories you reach where the energy isn't used in building muscle anymore and it just turns to fat?

How do you gain muscle without gaining fat? Steroids


There probably will be an element of fat gain regardless of what you do. Could be tiny tho. Once the increased in body mass is more attributable to muscle than fat gains, your BF% is decreasing, even tho you're gaining body fat.

Lago

Hanley wrote: »

How do you gain muscle without gaining fat? Steroids


There probably will be an element of fat gain regardless of what you do. Could be tiny tho. Once the increased in body mass is more attributable to muscle than fat gains, your BF% is decreasing, even tho you're gaining body fat.

Clearly makes sense but I guess I never thought of it like that. Bulking it is so!

Mellor

Lago wrote: »

It was on a different forum, this guy posted a thread before he started doing a new workout. He posted progress pictures and said he had tested his body fat percentage to be around 18% yet in the pictures his abdominal muscles were big enough to make them fairly visible. I'd rather not re-post his picture here but some people did comment about it, although he didn't say it himself

Maybe he was 18% with abs showing, but if thats the case he is defo an exception.
It's far more likely that the bf% test was off.