3.7% body fat Hey Tom, I've won many bodybuilding contests myself back in the 80`s and my friend, you are full of it! To start, let me just say this: If you were 3.7% body fat, you would be dead! your inerds contain 4% so can you share your secret how you stay alive at 3.7% I'd really like to know! My niece sent your web site link to me, laughing her butt off. Good luck my friend, consumers are much smarter than that. Robert Walker Robert, you are correct that there is a certain amount of body fat that is "essential" and therefore, necessary just for good health and normal bodily functions. Most medical and exercise physiology textbooks say that essential body fat in men is approximately 2-3%, although I occasionally see the 4% number you quoted. The exact Also, keep in mind, that skinfold regression equations which are used to calculate percentage body fat from skinfold thickness measurements, are population specific, so they can overestimate or UNDER estimate, depending on which one is used on which person. The skinfold test also has substantial room for error due to operator (human) error. Although there are some very high tech and extremely accurate methods for fat testing today, body fat testing and especially skinfold testing, is not an exact science. I prefer to look at body fat testing as a method of getting feedback and measuring progress, not for obtaining bragging rights. Body fat percentage numbers are often "fudged", especially in the bodybuilding community, but I can assure you, I am not one of the people who fudge them. During the 2001 contest season when I won my class at the NPC Natural Eastern Classic Bodybuilding Championships, I was measured on two separate occasions by two separate professionals at my club at under 4% body fat (3.7%). In my 20's, at one point I measured at 3.4%, my all time lowest. These were taken with a Skyndex skinfold caliper with a 4 site Durnin equation. There are high tech methods that are arguably more accurate, but my tests were performed by qualified experienced fitness professionals who routinely perform hundreds of such tests every year (and again, I do it for charting my progress more than anything). At my competition in October 2005, I measured 5% body fat, then 2 weeks later I measured 4.5%, again with skyndex calipers. (you can see my most recent competition photos at my website blog if you look back a couple entries in the blog). Even at age 37, I am quite certain I can once again obtain sub 4% body fat this year when I compete again. Even if I don't, 4.5-5.0% body fat was good enough last year to take 2nd place in an open (non-drug tested) NPC contest in a class of 9 competitors. If you do some research on Clarence Bass, "Mr. Ripped" himself, you will see that not only does Clarence claim to have been in the 2% body fat range at one point, he has the documentation to prove it (photographs of the test procedure and the printed test results, straight from the medical center where the underwater weighing took place) In addition, any good sports medicine expert or exercise physiologist will tell you that these extremely low body fat levels are also commonplace in elite endurance athletes, although they don't carry the muscle that the bodybuilders do. As for "how I stay alive at 3.7%": You as a bodybuilder, of all people, should know as well as I do that competition is all about peaking... I havenever made a claim that I stay at 3 or 4 or even 5% body fat all year round. In fact, I publicly state quite often that I am usually about 8 or 9% body fat (I am now). I typically measure between 3.5 and 5% for competition and hold this for only a brief time - often only for a window of days. I know many, many other male bodybuilders who have also reached these numbers because I have measured them myself or know the trainers who measured them. I have also personally measured a few women who dropped into the single digits in body fat to peak for a fitness or bodybuilding competition. High single digits for women would be analagous to low single digits for men. I am making no recommendations or claims about potential health effects of trying to stay that lean for too long, only pointing out the facts to you. In truth, very low single digit body fat is par for the course for steroid and drug taking bodybuilders. Perhaps the only thing remarkable about the fact that I reached sub 4% body fat is that I did it without ever taking fat burning or anabolic drugs. My physique is the result of back breaking hard work and discipline. I have NEVER said I had a magic bullet. I wouldn't ever say it was easy, nor would I even say the rigors of bodybuilding at the competitive level in the final days and weeks of competition prep are necessarily even healthy - even when you are natural for life. That is the nature of competive sports. Getting in a race car or the boxing ring or even on the football field isnt without risks either. I don't recommend for my clients the same body fat goals that I strive for - unless they are also competitive bodybuilders. goals and ideal body fat will vary depending on the individual. This is the body fat chart straight from my Burn The Fat book: : "BURN THE FAT" BODY FAT RATING SCALE : MEN Competition Shape ("ripped") 3-6% WOMEN Competition Shape ("ripped") 9-12% Don't be so quick to judge. There are a lot of liars, hucksters and charlatans out there today, especially on the internet, mostly people who use the Internet to hide their names, faces, and fat bodies, but I can promise you I am not one of them. Stop by my club in New Jersey some day and meet me, and even train with me, and once you know me, and when you see the shape I stay in - all the time - and what I eat and how hard I train, you'll see. The Burn The Fat ebook program advertised here is not just the same method that tens of thousands of regular people (read: NOT bodybuilders!), have used in 126 countries to burn fat, it's the same method I use to hit low single digit body fat. I am not just a writer - I am a practitioner.
Tom Venuto, NSCA-CPT, CSCS
Tom Venuto is a lifetime natural bodybuilder, an NSCA-certified personal trainer, certified strength & conditioning specialist (CSCS), and author of the #1 best selling diet e-book in Internet history, Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle. Tom has written hundreds of articles and been featured in IRONMAN, Natural Bodybuilding, Muscular Development, Exercise for Men and Mens Exercise. To get Tom's e-book, visit Tom by clicking here!.
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