How can i check my bodyfat? you read people saying they got 10% bodyfat or 20% how can you tell without some measuring tool? i think my bodyfat is around 3-4% but how can i tell without a measuring tool?

3-4% BF is about dead like

If your bodyfat is 3-4% then I bow down to you!!!!!!!!! :bow:

Seriously though without a measuring tool you're just playing guessing games with the mirror I guess. You can go to a university and get it tested by either calipers or the under-water thing.

Some people post a picture here and have others try to guess what their bodyfat might be. Again though, it's still guessing. Personally I suck at doing this and never reply when someone posts a picture asking what their BF might be.

I also suck with calipers. I'll do it once and get 5%, do it again and get 20%. I am clueless. I've gone up to the community college here (Valencia CC) and had them do it before, they have always been pretty accurate for me. Last time it was 8%, years ago though (I'm much higher now I'm sure).

if you go to the gym, just ask them if they have a bf calculator, they prob will. or you can pick up a bf monitor for around £20, from most places that sell bathroom scales.

most of the websites that calulate bodyfat were giving me readings of 1-2 percent based on the size of my body like waist, neck, chest to your height etc can these be acurate???

Probably not. I found one of those sites that had me at NEGATIVE body fat! :)

I use an Omron, which appears to read me about 2-3% high, but is reliable at giving the same reading at any given time. I bought it on Ebay for about $30.

I highly doubt you are at 1-2%. :)

most of the websites that calulate bodyfat were giving me readings of 1-2 percent based on the size of my body like waist, neck, chest to your height etc can these be acurate???

No. This is impossible. Your internal organs would dissolve.

It is extremely unlikely anybody would be able to sustain a bodyfat below 5% for the long term and not suffer severe health problems.

most of the websites that calulate bodyfat were giving me readings of 1-2 percent based on the size of my body like waist, neck, chest to your height etc can these be acurate???
Give us your measurements in inches, so we can estimate them. Yes they can be accurate.

If you have 3 to 4% body fat, congratulations. I admire that.

I envy it too. :D

This webpage (link below) features a picture of Tom Venuto in peak condition at 3.7% body fat. So you would look about as ripped as that picture.

http://www.fitren.com/

Don't despair if you look nothing like it though, even Tom states that he has higher body fat off season (though still in the single figures).

It is extremely unlikely that anyone would reach such low bf levels without knowing how to measure body fat or being capable of a fairly good and confident estimate because it normally takes effort, dedication and knowledge to look like this (mostly, it's for the pros).

Or you might have picked the ideal genes! :tu:

Vincent.

My bodyfat was so low last year that i actually started to get the shakes get cold tempertures and at night time had to sleep with a coat on to keep warm. it might be genetics.

My bodyfat was so low last year that i actually started to get the shakes get cold tempertures and at night time had to sleep with a coat on to keep warm. it might be genetics.

There are lots of reasons you could be cold at night when the temp gets low, anemia, vitamin deficiency or atleast a half dozen other reasons other than maybe it's just cold ;)

I share the same sentiments as Vincent, if you're really below 4% bf and don't know how to measure yourself, that's truly amazing :nod:

How much do you weigh, Leon? If you don't mind my asking.

Leon may or may not be 4%BF, but I know people that were less than 135lb at 5'10'' - 6'2" who probably are/were 5% or less. The guy I'm thinking of now is ~6' probably less than 125lb. None were 'ripped', just skin and bones apart from their legs (guess what? they are all long distance cyclists). None would have any idea what BF they are, none of us would want to look like that either!

You can probably get a reasonable guess through comparison here:

http://forums.johnstonefitness.com/showthread.php?t=10677&highlight=guide+fat

The mathematical problem with that, I think, is that, as you get lighter, what 3% Body constitutes becomes smaller and smaller. A 200 lb guy who's 5% BF has 10 lbs of fat on him. A 120 lb guy at 5% has only 6 lb of fat on him. A 120 lb guy with 10 lb of fat on him would be 8% body fat - the number leaves the 4s and 5s real, real quick for slimmer guys.

Body fat percentages don't just take into account subcutaneous fat - they also include deeper fat deposits around your internal organs. These deposits expand or shrink as you gain or lose body fat and can pose health problems if they get too big. It's why your age is factored into your body fat measurement (the older you are, the bigger the internal deposits get), and it's a reason why lyposuction doesn't do as much to prevent heart disease as you'd think it would.

I'm not sure exactly what the consequenes are if this fat goes away entirely, but my guess is that it wouldn't be good.

A 200 lb guy might be a lot bigger than a 120 lb guy, but unless there's a great height difference, their livers and kidneys are the same size and have the same protective coating of fat. Since the 200 lb guy at the same body fat percentage has 60% more fat on his body, and neither of them have very much fat at all under their skin, I'm guessing that to make up the difference you'd have to go to the internal organs. And taking somebody at 5% body fat and then skimming 40% of the protective fat off their internal organs, that sounds not so great.


Leon may or may not be 4%BF, but I know people that were less than 135lb at 5'10'' - 6'2" who probably are/were 5% or less. The guy I'm thinking of now is ~6' probably less than 125lb. None were 'ripped', just skin and bones apart from their legs (guess what? they are all long distance cyclists). None would have any idea what BF they are, none of us would want to look like that either!