Is there a generally accepted consensus on what a minimum "healthy" body fat % is? I've heard and read everything from 10% to 5%, and have also read stories of guys like Apolo Ohno being at 2% when they were in their competitive prime. So what's everyone's experience here?
OK, here's the longer version of the question: I'm going in for another DEXA scan in a few weeks to see where I currently am vs. same point prior years. My goal is to wrap up my weight loss and get to a stable weight before I start the final inseason block of training because running a caloric deficit while trying to ramp up distance and intensity has proven to be a big no-no for me in years past. At my current height/weight (6', 160lbs) i'm expecting to be somewhere around 10% BF per the DEXA scan (which reads about 1% higher than other tests like hydrostatic testing). My bathroom scale is nearly worthless, as it's currently reporting anywhere from 13% to 15%. Anyway, this invariably begs the quetion of how much additional I should be trying to lose in the next month or two. In prior years I've gotten down to 156ish and felt fine. I understand that once in single digits it's a tightrope walk to manage recovery, ability to handle training load, immune system strength, etc, and also understand that the number will by highly individual but I'd love to hear from the "ultra-lean" folks out there on how lean is OK vs. too lean and how do you know when you're approaching that limit, i.e., what are the signals your body is giving you (preferably the signals that come before injury, exhaustion, overtraining, sickness).
OK, here's the longer version of the question: I'm going in for another DEXA scan in a few weeks to see where I currently am vs. same point prior years. My goal is to wrap up my weight loss and get to a stable weight before I start the final inseason block of training because running a caloric deficit while trying to ramp up distance and intensity has proven to be a big no-no for me in years past. At my current height/weight (6', 160lbs) i'm expecting to be somewhere around 10% BF per the DEXA scan (which reads about 1% higher than other tests like hydrostatic testing). My bathroom scale is nearly worthless, as it's currently reporting anywhere from 13% to 15%. Anyway, this invariably begs the quetion of how much additional I should be trying to lose in the next month or two. In prior years I've gotten down to 156ish and felt fine. I understand that once in single digits it's a tightrope walk to manage recovery, ability to handle training load, immune system strength, etc, and also understand that the number will by highly individual but I'd love to hear from the "ultra-lean" folks out there on how lean is OK vs. too lean and how do you know when you're approaching that limit, i.e., what are the signals your body is giving you (preferably the signals that come before injury, exhaustion, overtraining, sickness).
