{"id":332,"date":"2011-10-24T14:08:51","date_gmt":"2011-10-24T12:08:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.pieromaina.me\/wp\/?p=332"},"modified":"2012-02-08T21:28:08","modified_gmt":"2012-02-08T20:28:08","slug":"332","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pieromaina.me\/wp\/332\/","title":{"rendered":"Q & A : What’s the Required Bodyfat Percentage to See Your Abs?"},"content":{"rendered":"

By:<\/strong>Tom Venuto
\nURL:<\/strong>www.BurnTheFat.com!<\/a>
\nWord count:<\/strong> 1238 words<\/h3>\n

QUESTION:<\/em><\/strong> “Tom, I know what I want to look like and I follow your
\nadvice about visualization and seeing my abs the way I want them to look. But\"\"<\/a>
\nwhat I can’t figure out is what body fat % I should be aiming at to achieve that look? I am female, 35 yrs old and I’ve done awesome on your Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle program. I started at 19% body fat and the lowest I’ve gotten so far was 11.8% body fat with a caliper test. I’ve been thinking about doing a figure competition, but even at that body fat percentage, which I know is very low, I still had some “patches” of fat. How do I know what body fat percentage I should target so that all the fat is gone?”<\/em><\/p>\n

ANSWER:<\/strong> Congrats! For most women, 11.8% is ripped, and for many women,
\nthat\u2019s contest ready.<\/p>\n

Just for comparison, I\u2019ve done over 7,000 body fat tests during my career,and the lowest I have ever measured on a female was 8.9% (4-site skinfold method).
\nShe was a national-level figure competitor and she was shredded – full six pack of abs\u2026 \u201conion skin!\u201d However, I do know some women who get down to 11-13% body fat – by all
\nstandards extremely lean, complete with six pack abs – but oddly, they still had a few stubborn fat spots – usually the hips and lower body – so this would confirm your experience.<\/p>\n

I know a guy who looks absolutely chiseled in his abs at 11% body fat, but other guys don\u2019t look really cut in the abs until they get down to 6-8% body fat.
\nThat\u2019s the trouble with trying to pin down one specific body fat number as THE body fat level for seeing 6-pack abs (or being contest or photo-shoot ready).
\nEveryone distributes their body fat differently and two people may look different at the same percentage.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what I\u2019d recommend:<\/p>\n

Get familiar with some benchmarks for body fat levels.
\nMy www.BurnTheFat.com!<\/strong><\/a>
\nhas a body fat rating scale, which includes averages and my suggested optimal body fat percentages.
\nThis is my own chart, which I created with a combination of research
\nliterature and my own personal experience.<\/p>\n

:: Burn The Fat, Feed the Muscle Body Fat Rating Scale ::<\/strong>
\nWOMEN:<\/strong>
\nCompetition Shape (\u201cripped\u201d): 8-12%
\nVery Lean (excellent): < 15%
\nLean (good): 16-20%
\nSatisfactory (fair): 21-25%
\nImprovement needed (poor): 26-30%
\nMajor improvement needed (very poor):
\n31-40+%
\nMEN:<\/strong>
\nCompetition Shape (\u201cripped\u201d): 3-6%
\nVery Lean (excellent):< 9%
\nLean (good): 10-14%
\nSatisfactory (fair): 15-19%
\nImprovement
\nneeded (poor): 20-25%
\nMajor improvement needed (very poor): 26-30+%<\/p>\n

Just a quick note: You\u2019re not destined to get fatter as you get older, but in the general population (non fitness and bodybuilding folks), the average older person has more body fat.<\/p>\n

What I did to accomodate this is to include a range instead of one number, so younger people can use the low end of the range and older people can use the higher number.
\nAlso, just so the average reader can keep things in perspective, single digit body fat for women and low single digits for men is far beyond lean – it\u2019s
\nRIPPED – and that\u2019s usually solely the domain of competitive physique athletes. Competition body fat levels were not meant to be maintained all year round.
\nIt\u2019s not realistic and it may may not be healthy, particularly for women.
\nThe average guy or gal should probably aim for the \u201clean\u201d category as a realistic year round goal, or if you\u2019re really ambitious and dedicated, the \u201cvery lean category.\u201d
\nYou\u2019ll probably have to hit the \u201cvery lean\u201d category for six pack abs.However, the bottom line is that there\u2019s no \u201cperfect\u201d body fat percentage where you\u2019re assured of seeing your abs.
\nBesides, body fat is one of those numbers that gets fudged and exaggerated all the time. I hear reports of women with body fat between 4 and 8% and I usually dismiss it as error in measurement (or there\u2019s some \u201cassistance\u201d involved). Body fat testing, especially with skinfolds, is not an exact science.
\nAll body fat tests are estimations and there is always room for human error.
\nThe low numbers are nice for bragging rights, but the judges don\u2019t measure your body fat on stage. What counts is how you look and whether you\u2019re happy with that (or whether the judges are happy with it, if you\u2019re competing).You can use my chart to help you set some initial goals, but for the most part, I recommend using body fat testing as a way of charting your progress over time to see if you\u2019re improving rather than pursuing some holy grail number.
\nOne final note: there are always a few people out there who take exception to my body fat rating scale. More often it’s females than males. More often older than younger. And more often non athletes than athletes. Usually it’s because they have a body fat of 26% or 27% or thereabouts, they are perfectly healthy and they are not significantly overweight. They argue that a body fat of 26% or so should not be rated as “poor” and that the standards on my chart are too high.
\nHaving been influenced by the bodybuilding and physique world my entire life,I do have high standards, and my chart is admittedly skewed slightly toward an athletic population. However, for a young girl, 26% body fat and for a 40 or 50-something woman, 30% body fat, does in fact, leave plenty of room for improvement which is exactly what the chart says.<\/p>\n

I’d like to encourage all my readers to consider setting higher standards and loftier goals. Not everyone wants or needs to be “ripped.” But in my opinion,many people set goals too low and settle for what they think they can get, not what they really want. With that said, please use my chart only as a guideline and not as gospel. Ultimately, it’s up to you to set your own goals and standards. if 6-pack abs are your goal, I think this info should give you a better idea of what it will take.
\nIn my Burn The fat, Feed The Muscle system, you can learn more about how to measure your body fat – professionally or even by yourself in the privacy of your own home.
\nBurn The Fat, Feed The Muscle explains why body mass index and height and weight charts are virtually worthless, and shows you how to track your body composition over time and \u201ctweak\u201d your nutrition and training according to your weekly results.
\nGet more details at: www.BurnTheFat.com!<\/a><\/p>\n

Train hard and expect success!<\/p>\n

Tom Venuto, author of
\nBurn The Fat Feed The Muscle\"\"<\/a>www.BurnTheFat.com!<\/a><\/p>\n

About the Author:<\/p>\n

\n

Tom Venuto is the author of the #1 best seller, Burn the
\nFat, Feed the Muscle: Fat Burning Secrets of the World\u2019s Best Bodybuilders and
\nFitness Models.<\/em> Tom is a lifetime natural bodybuilder and fat loss expert
\nwho achieved an astonishing 3.7% body fat level without drugs or supplements.
\nDiscover how to increase your metabolism and burn stubborn body fat, find out
\nwhich foods burn fat and which foods turn to fat, plus get a free fat loss
\nreport and mini course by visiting Tom’s site at: www.BurnTheFat.com!<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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