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Minimum BF %?
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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).
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Re: Minimum BF %? [el gato] [ In reply to ]
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I feel strong at around 8% body fat.

Less than that and I start to get a little fragile.
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Re: Minimum BF %? [el gato] [ In reply to ]
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When I was in college, I felt best around 8%. I tried going lower a few times, but always ended up feeling not great and I would get sick easily. Now that I am in my 30s and have young children, I can't go below 10% or else I start to feel crappy.
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Re: Minimum BF %? [el gato] [ In reply to ]
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I seem to remember the big 4 were said to be around 6pm tall 150 lbs 7% body fat

Maybe Monty can confirm or correct
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Re: Minimum BF %? [jhammond] [ In reply to ]
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jhammond wrote:
When I was in college, I felt best around 8%. I tried going lower a few times, but always ended up feeling not great and I would get sick easily. Now that I am in my 30s and have young children, I can't go below 10% or else I start to feel crappy.

How do you measure your body fat?
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Re: Minimum BF %? [el gato] [ In reply to ]
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On avg. your body will not go lower than 4% and then it starts eating muscle and things stop working As it goes lower, starvation, the end result is not good.

All these low BF% you hear about take with a grain of salt. Most people BF is higher than they think. I was part of a pretty large government study on BF and I was surprised at my BF. When racing....and the time of the study I was racing....I weighted 160 lbs and I'm 6"2'. Tall and thin.......My BF was 13% (hydrostatic testing)
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Re: Minimum BF %? [el gato] [ In reply to ]
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My experience is that to stay below 7% (hydrostatic method) I have to be running a calorie deficit. And if I'm running a calorie deficit my training is going to suffer if I'm in an intense training block.

9% BF is where I can maintain body fat and weight, while eating a slight calorie surplus, and recover/build strength and endurance.
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Re: Minimum BF %? [el gato] [ In reply to ]
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It’s nearly impossible to get below 5-6% without including dehydration in the mix. Bodybuilders who get down to 2-3% limit water for 10 days and cut it out completely for 2-3 days on top of taking dietetics.

I would suspect Frodo/Lionel are around 5-6% but genetics play a roll how well you can function at those %s. As others have said, be skeptical of all bf% other than via the look test. If I use a calculator I often get 5-7% when I am without question not lower than 10% at that time.
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Re: Minimum BF %? [Scottxs] [ In reply to ]
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Scottxs wrote:
Most people BF is higher than they think. I was part of a pretty large government study on BF and I was surprised at my BF. When racing....and the time of the study I was racing....I weighted 160 lbs and I'm 6"2'. Tall and thin.......My BF was 13% (hydrostatic testing)

You are right. InBody machine that you see in many gyms reads BF bit higher. I did hydrostatic test by a company that does Dallas Cowboys and may professional athletes in Austin and DFW area. Mine came out 4.9%. If I go higher, I can lift better and tell I'm stronger, but running, push ups, pull ups and any body weight workout is no fun, so I keep it around 5%. 128-130lb and 5'8.
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Re: Minimum BF %? [BGildenstern] [ In reply to ]
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BGildenstern wrote:
It’s nearly impossible to get below 5-6% without including dehydration in the mix. Bodybuilders who get down to 2-3% limit water for 10 days and cut it out completely for 2-3 days on top of taking dietetics.

I would suspect Frodo/Lionel are around 5-6% but genetics play a roll how well you can function at those %s. As others have said, be skeptical of all bf% other than via the look test. If I use a calculator I often get 5-7% when I am without question not lower than 10% at that time.

Water weight has nothing to do with BF%. In theory cutting water would actually raise your body fat ratio relative to the lean tissue and water that remains I think.

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Re: Minimum BF %? [BGildenstern] [ In reply to ]
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BGildenstern wrote:
It’s nearly impossible to get below 5-6% without including dehydration in the mix. Bodybuilders who get down to 2-3% limit water for 10 days and cut it out completely for 2-3 days on top of taking dietetics.

I would suspect Frodo/Lionel are around 5-6% but genetics play a roll how well you can function at those %s. As others have said, be skeptical of all bf% other than via the look test. If I use a calculator I often get 5-7% when I am without question not lower than 10% at that time.

Dehydration raises BF%.

IMO no way Lionel is 5%
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Re: Minimum BF %? [el gato] [ In reply to ]
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I think what you need varies by sport and discipline within that sport In college all I did was run, mostly longer-distance events. We could get tested frequently and we did (mostly out of some bizarre pointless sense of competitiveness) back then, even out of shape my body fat was typically lower than what it's been at my best in the years since, especially since I started doing triathlon.
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Re: Minimum BF %? [MrTri123] [ In reply to ]
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MrTri123 wrote:
BGildenstern wrote:
It’s nearly impossible to get below 5-6% without including dehydration in the mix. Bodybuilders who get down to 2-3% limit water for 10 days and cut it out completely for 2-3 days on top of taking dietetics.

I would suspect Frodo/Lionel are around 5-6% but genetics play a roll how well you can function at those %s. As others have said, be skeptical of all bf% other than via the look test. If I use a calculator I often get 5-7% when I am without question not lower than 10% at that time.

Dehydration raises BF%.

IMO no way Lionel is 5%


No? Then are you telling me that when 200lbs guy goes on Keto, drops 20 pounds of water weight over the first 3 weeks that his body fat hasn’t gone down at all? Comon man, when water weight plays a huge roll in BF%
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Re: Minimum BF %? [BGildenstern] [ In reply to ]
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BGildenstern wrote:
MrTri123 wrote:
BGildenstern wrote:
It’s nearly impossible to get below 5-6% without including dehydration in the mix. Bodybuilders who get down to 2-3% limit water for 10 days and cut it out completely for 2-3 days on top of taking dietetics.

I would suspect Frodo/Lionel are around 5-6% but genetics play a roll how well you can function at those %s. As others have said, be skeptical of all bf% other than via the look test. If I use a calculator I often get 5-7% when I am without question not lower than 10% at that time.


Dehydration raises BF%.

IMO no way Lionel is 5%



No? Then are you telling me that when 200lbs guy goes on Keto, drops 20 pounds of water weight over the first 3 weeks that his body fat hasn’t gone down at all? Comon man, when water weight plays a huge roll in BF%

Yes this is what is being said and it is in essence correct.
If you are purely dehydrating and not dropping body fat then your total weight will go down but your body fat mass will remain the same, therefore you actual body fat % will rise as your overall weight is lower (as BF% is derived from your fat mass divided by body weight).
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Re: Minimum BF %? [Amnesia] [ In reply to ]
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LOL @ your straight faced response. This is the internet....Even if you convince people that muscle is the main container of water, not fat; even if you are mathematically correct, g'luck convincing people of the illogical.

Just pointing out, that it seems "logical" that if you drop weight, your body fat % must drop, right? Also body builders look so much more ripped when they are dehydrated, so dehydration mean lower body fat, right? Ripped looking surely = lower body fat! Although body fat is a mathematical metric, it's associated with looking lean, and that's how any sentence involving "body fat %" will be understood by most. This now makes sense "water weight plays a huge roll in (BF%) -> looking lean".

Also, phrasing, the statement dehydration raises body fat % sounds like dehydration causes body fat mass to go up. Yes, yes, that's not what you are saying, but most people don't really understand % based metrics that well.especially when you change the numerator and denominator at the same time.
Last edited by: bloodyshogun: Jan 22, 20 1:06
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Re: Minimum BF %? [bloodyshogun] [ In reply to ]
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bloodyshogun wrote:
LOL @ your straight faced response. This is the internet....Even if you convince people that muscle is the main container of water, not fat; even if you are mathematically correct, g'luck convincing people of the illogical.

Just pointing out, that it seems "logical" that if you drop weight, your body fat % must drop, right? Also body builders look so much more ripped when they are dehydrated, so dehydration mean lower body fat, right? Ripped looking surely = lower body fat! Although body fat is a mathematical metric, it's associated with looking lean, and that's how any sentence involving "body fat %" will be understood by most. This now makes sense "water weight plays a huge roll in (BF%) -> looking lean".

Also, phrasing, the statement dehydration raises body fat % sounds like dehydration causes body fat mass to go up. Yes, yes, that's not what you are saying, but most people don't really understand % based metrics that well.especially when you change the numerator and denominator at the same time.

Completely agree with what you are saying!!
A lot of people also don't understand that the way body builders dehydrate themselves to look lean and vascular is like the icing on the cake after getting their BF% down to absurdly low values. At that point they are not losing more body fat but it is the way the dehydration alters, amongst other things, skin tone etc that means they look that much more ripped (even though they feel like absolute shite).
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Re: Minimum BF %? [el gato] [ In reply to ]
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During my base building periods when I'm maxing out my hours (16-20+) I like to keep a little extra body fat, 12% maybe. I race at 6-8% but that's something I've learned I can only hold for a week or maybe even just a few days.

I also tried to do hard work at a caloric deficit for a period last year. I was in the single digit BF range for 2-3 months and it went well for about 1.5 months then things started going really south for me. I was sluggish in key races, no 5th gear, and my first milage related injuries of my life. It was a tough lesson to learn.

Too old to go pro but doing it anyway
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Re: Minimum BF %? [Amnesia] [ In reply to ]
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Amnesia wrote:
bloodyshogun wrote:
LOL @ your straight faced response. This is the internet....Even if you convince people that muscle is the main container of water, not fat; even if you are mathematically correct, g'luck convincing people of the illogical.

Just pointing out, that it seems "logical" that if you drop weight, your body fat % must drop, right? Also body builders look so much more ripped when they are dehydrated, so dehydration mean lower body fat, right? Ripped looking surely = lower body fat! Although body fat is a mathematical metric, it's associated with looking lean, and that's how any sentence involving "body fat %" will be understood by most. This now makes sense "water weight plays a huge roll in (BF%) -> looking lean".

Also, phrasing, the statement dehydration raises body fat % sounds like dehydration causes body fat mass to go up. Yes, yes, that's not what you are saying, but most people don't really understand % based metrics that well.especially when you change the numerator and denominator at the same time.

Completely agree with what you are saying!!
A lot of people also don't understand that the way body builders dehydrate themselves to look lean and vascular is like the icing on the cake after getting their BF% down to absurdly low values. At that point they are not losing more body fat but it is the way the dehydration alters, amongst other things, skin tone etc that means they look that much more ripped (even though they feel like absolute shite).


I see how there has been a miscommunication. I only subtly said it but I only think consistent measure of body fat is the visual test%. There are so many variables in different body fat techniques and the visual test is easiest and the most accurate outside water test.
I was a bodybuilder for 7 years prior to triathlon so I am well aware you don’t “actually” lose bf%, just the visual look with a “trick”.
The point I was simply trying to make was that if someone tells you they are under 5% they are either using a “trick” ie.bodybuilder dehydration or they are lying because no one can maintain or even achieve sub 5% without causing damage to the body.
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Re: Minimum BF %? [MrRabbit] [ In reply to ]
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MrRabbit wrote:
I race at 6-8% but that's something I've learned I can only hold for a week or maybe even just a few days..

To increase body fat to 10%, you would likely need to gain over 2kg of fat.

How do you achieve this in just a few days?
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Re: Minimum BF %? [fruit thief] [ In reply to ]
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fruit thief wrote:
MrRabbit wrote:
I race at 6-8% but that's something I've learned I can only hold for a week or maybe even just a few days..

To increase body fat to 10%, you would likely need to gain over 2kg of fat.

How do you achieve this in just a few days?

Strong comprehension skills... Where does it say he gets back to 10% in just a few days...?
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Re: Minimum BF %? [dunno] [ In reply to ]
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Says "just a few days" right there ^^^
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Re: Minimum BF %? [fruit thief] [ In reply to ]
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fruit thief wrote:
Says "just a few days" right there ^^^


I can stay that low a few days, then the slow build back up begins. Didn't say I gorge immediately.

Too old to go pro but doing it anyway
http://instagram.com/tgarvey4
Last edited by: MrRabbit: Jan 22, 20 15:14
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Re: Minimum BF %? [fruit thief] [ In reply to ]
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Drink 2kg of oil.
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Re: Minimum BF %? [fruit thief] [ In reply to ]
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fruit thief wrote:
Says "just a few days" right there ^^^

As I said...strong comprehension skills. It doesn't say anything about how long it takes him to return to 10%, only that he can maintain 8% for just a few days..
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Re: Minimum BF %? [dunno] [ In reply to ]
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My genuine question is because I find it surprising that such significant changes in body fat happen in a short time.

My personal experience is that changes in body fat% have been very slow. For example even with 1000kcal deficit per day, even a lean adult would take about a week for a 1% reduction in body fat.

So I'm curious how 6-8% body fat is something you could hold but only for a few days. I have no personal experience of single digit % body fat, and wondered if maybe there is a sort of rebound hunger/ calorie excess mechanism and maybe mrRabbit would explain. He certainly looks very lean on the race photo attached to his profile
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