How can you say BF % has no impact? Math doesn’t lie and power to weight ratio works well in my book. Case history on any elite athletes you have worked with in Track or similar sport?
I said no such thing.
I said focusing on a NUMBER (which is based on a series of estimations) is a mistake for coaches and athletes to make. I pointed out that if an extreme diet or training approach is used to attepmt to meet some arbitrary BF%, that will likely hinder performance, and that performance, not some artibtary BF%, should be the goal. Put differently, a sprinter might run faster, in theory at 3% bodyfat. But if he has to overly restrict calories or do a high volume of non-specific work, he may perform better in the real world at 5%. All of which belies the fact taht the ESTIMATIONS of bodyfat are fraught with errors upon errors, estimations about tissue density and a whole host of other factors.
Which of those simple statements are you having trouble understanding or do you disagree with?
Lyle
lyle,
why not just change an athletes (or in your case, bodybuilders) lifestyle? eating clean zone meals with no calorie deficit or low carbs? train hard on the track and in the weight room and you will get lean. not by CKD and moping around brain dead. thats just my opinion.
Hmm isnt the policy of many coaches to have a clean diet(not necessarily a calorie restrictive one), do you track workouts, and your weightroom workouts and allow weight and bodyfat to settle itself, i think that was charlie’s policy and look at how lean his athletes were…
Energy system management ESPN3…then cycling the nutrition…I think you understand this.
Lyle…great that you came in to shake things up…but this board is mainly speed and power athletes and we try to get into the details of performance. Can you see that?
Numbers are real…maybe not accurate but precise.
So, does anyone know the advised body fat level for female athletes?
so…does anyone know the recommended level for female sprinters? Ive heard under 20% but i think thats not specifically for sprinters. I’m just curious!
You’d be hard pressed to find a high-level female sprinter as high as 20% bodyfat.
Think sub-15% or maybe lower, depending on their level.
Yeah, I wasn’t sure how much the figure would differ from the normal/fairly sedentary person’s figure- thanks!
1 or 2% extra BF doesn’t really matter, it isn’t even 2kg. Your power/weight ratio will not differ very much.
It also applies to weightlifting for sprinting. Getting heavier from lifting doesn’t even weigh as much as the gain in strength. So I wouldn’t worry about it. mine is 6% by the way.
that couldnt be the truth. Just think about this:
Fat is also to isolate you organes. With 1,5% you wont be able to live
Car lewis lived on a diet of liquidised fruit and vegetables. He did not delieve in eating animal protein in large amounts. ( I think he eventually became a vegan). He got his protein from nuts. It may well be true that his BF levels were around 4% or even 3% at times but not sustainable for long periods.
I remember a close friend of mine fruit and veg juicing. After 3 months the guy was ripped beyond belief. But I love my meat, so not for me, and I think that sort of diet makes people very agitated.
L Christie would get down to 5% circa and never larger than 10% BF at any time during his career. I would say that you are kidding yourself if you do not realise how important it is to reduce BF levels. Assuming most athletes weigh between 70-80 Kg, having a BF of around 10-12% during off season and <10% during comps would be a good idea. Its reality, how many fat Grey Hounds or Cheetahs are there? Speed requires optimal bodyweights and the lower your BF the less effort you have to apply. Also your plyometric strength is likely to increase.
http://www.vegsource.com/articles2/tofu123.htm
Check out the video clip.
here is the secret to how elite sprinter maintain such a low body fat.
http://www.vivo.colostate.edu/hbooks/pathphys/endocrine/hypopit/gh.html
I think that the set point of leptin level is variable whit the time. i try to explain. if a person eat more than his caloric requirement, he have a lot of leptin and the brain become less sensible, but if you stay for long time whit low level of leptin your brain become more sensible.
For example it’s knowed that obese people became more sensible to leptin when they cut off weight.
and I have a personal experience:
when I was young i tend to get fat; 1 year ago i stay on very low calorie diet (CRON). now i eat quite normal, but i notice i have less tende ncy to get fat, and even if i was leaner, i have less "dietState associated problem
Just another question on measuring fat %…
- of all the methods of measuring fat % which is the best??
- What is the difference between all the different methods. I mean +/- how much (percentage wise?)
- How much can a drop in fat% affect times. I have went down from 21 to 14 and in that time I wasn’t even training. When I came back on the track I was consistantly running a couple of tenth less than what I was running on 21… But after a couple of more month of intense training my body weight shot up a full 10kg and my weights in the gym boosted big time. But even though I was spending a total of 4-6 hours a day in the gym and track, My fat % went back to 21 %!!! But this time the times stayed fast. Not just that but with slight improvements and some personal bests.Now the question is. If I drop to 10-14% back again will I gain another extra 2 tenth??(or may be just one since its much harder in the current range)
- How can I drop such an amount?? Remember I am training about 4-6 hours a day already. I DO eat enought to maintain minimum required nutrients. And I don’t want to loose this much of strength that I have built and still going on with building.
- I don’t look obeese at all. I went to the doctor of my Gym and I told him to measure my body fat and he told me it was 21.1%. Exactly the same as what I measured at home with my device. I did 21.2 on my home device. When I went to the coach he told me that I don’t look fat at all and that I shouldn’t be concerned!! My six packs show fully and my muscles are defined?? So could fat be intermuscle fat?? Is there such a thing??
- One thing more I want to talk about. I feel more and more easy to be injured while being heavy like this. My knees, quads and hamstrings get strained so easily and my calf get stiff faster and faster? But still I am making improvements. So does fat% increase or decrease the probabilty of injury in any way??
And thanks in advnace for any reply
guys!! Any reply?
i did a dexa today, my BF is:
3% according to Siri
7% according to other formulas. is too low? i post aphoto in my diary
3 sounds too low…You def.look around 7% to me. I wouldn’t say its too low. Do you get “sick” often?
no, i wasn’t sick all winter long ( i hope to continue). yes I see a 7% in the mirror…so it’s no too low to sprint (5-10% the average).
I ask this because my time didn’t improve when I ate less (i went from bodybuilding, so eat clean, and so on). now i try to eat more kcal (and even I try to eat clean, I eat relatively dirty) but now my time start to improve.
so i ask if my BF is too low. but i think is the calorie too low. now i eat approssimatively 3500-4000 kcal and some of this from chocolate, and so on
Got a DXA scan today since we are working with a doctor who has a machine he did it for free… 8.4%