My BF% Woes...Share Yours

[Madmick]

Okay, so I understand aesthetics and athletics don't go hand-in-hand. Case in point- Chuck Liddell. But I got a little frustrated today, and I had to get it off my chest. I figured you guys in here to be the only to understand- besides, should it come to that, it hurts less to be ridiculed anonymously.

I had my boss do a fitness evaluation on me, today. Part of the fitness evaluation is the BF% test. I said, "I already know my BF%," and he said, "Yeah, what is it, how'd you measure it?" I told him about the Tanita BC554 scale I ordered and how it's measured me over the past several days at an average of 16%. He then told me when he was in college (about a decade ago) one of his classes did a large-scale study on BF% monitors.

They used as their reference the DEX measurement: Dual Energy X-Rays. This test provides as accurate a reading as the submersion tests.

In comparison, he said, Tanita was the only brand of consumer scale models that was even reliably close to an acceptable deviation, especially if one consistently measured throughout a week and then calculated the averages; nonetheless, it tweaked (for example, it would occassionally read him at 20% when he was at 5%), and for some users never read reliably altogether.

Since he was measuring me with the calipers (skin fold), he mentioned those too, and said that although you'll often hear them maligned, the end result of their test measured the calipers deviation to be 2%.

I am 6'5", 248 lbs. He measured me with calipers, and my result was just over 10%.

What are my woes, then, you ask? Alright, I'll admit, I was enthused to learn I had 10% bodyfat, but...I have a gut and handles. Consider that the healthy range for bodyfat in men my age is 7%-20%. Before, when I thought it was 16%, I figured, "Hey, I can easily lose 22-23 pounds, which is about 9% of my weight, and weigh 225 pounds with a 7%BF. I should be ripped."

Now, the number I can "safely" lose is about 8 pounds, and that will be 240 lbs. This may not seem like a problem, but I was 13 pounds below that weight just a year and a half ago- not with the amount of muscle I have now, but not much less- and I still looked like a fucking Kenmore. My body just loves to put all that fat in my abdomen and back: none for my arms, legs, butt, chest. Maybe you think I'm a pillow fight pussy, but c'mon, how would you like it if you knew the physique you could realistically dream for was like that of the awe-inspiring Tim Sylvia? That guy was on Winstrol and I still couldn't distinguish him from Kirby on my gameboy. I thought the puffy white cloud had come to life.

So that's enough, this has been long, but I wondered...how many of you have had the same problem? Do I have hope? What did you have to get your BF% down to for the bullet abs? Weere you always hungry? Did it affect your training?

I want to fight, but I just broke up with my longtime GF, and I'm on the prowl too.

 

[Sinister]

Losing stomach fat has been my one single nemesis. It doesn't help that every single male in my family save for the ONE who has a fast metabolism (my cousin) has a gut. For the 6-pack most guys do have to have single-digit bodyfat. I'm almost always hungry and I'm JUST now starting to see the two cuts at the top of my abs but still have more lower-stomach and handles than I care for.

 

[Madmick]

Losing stomach fat has been my one single nemesis. It doesn't help that every single male in my family save for the ONE who has a fast metabolism (my cousin) has a gut. For the 6-pack most guys do have to have single-digit bodyfat. I'm almost always hungry and I'm JUST now starting to see the two cuts at the top of my abs but still have more lower-stomach and handles than I care for.

Thanks for that, brother.

I don't want to bring Southern California to the forum, but have you considered liposuction? I don't have the cash for that now, and obviously I have some fat I could lose, but I've already decided that if I get down to 6% and I don't have a 6-pack, when I'm a lawyer, I'm gonna shell out the several grand and get it. I was just wondering what its implications were for an athlete.

Maybe that seems stupid, but who I'm able to sleep with in large part depends on that (it always does), and that matters to me.

 

[Sinister]

lol Nah I've never considered that but it's because I keep a couple things in mind.

1) If fucking Marky Mark Whalberg could do it, I can do it.
2) If Stallone could go from being as fat as he was in Copland back to having a ripped stomach, what the fuck is my problem?
3) That's something my Dad would do to avoid the work.
4) If I want to Box Pro I WILL look good with my shirt off, end of story.

But you have one thing against you I don't. You're fucking huge. I had no idea how big you are, but you're big. So your metabolism is always working overtime and it's harder to compensate for that and get shredded. But you can do it. I recently read an article that stated there are 3 things you need to do to get the ripped stomach:

1) CARDIO
2) Keep the numbers in-check. With you're caloric intake minimized, your workouts should burn more than you intake (this is granted you're not eating shit food that goes immediately to fat storage as well).
3) Strengthen the muscles beneath the fat.

I'll tell you a couple things that have helped me.

- I switched up my routine to where now I do my cardio first and then do my conditioning and strength training. I used to do my cardio last because it was harder, but decided to give it a shot doing my cardio first thing in the morning on an empty stomach and it is working for me. But I do more cardio than a lot of guys. A total of 6.5 miles of mixed interval and distance training, as well as rope-skipping (with jump-rope sprints) tossed in there.

- I've eliminated most of my day's sodium intake. Keeping it under 1,500 mg of sodium per day is tough, but it helps not retain so much fluid.

- I do almost no weights. I do some because I need to sculpt the body a bit. But nothing more than various dumbbell exercises. I don't need big muscles, I need to cut. A lot of guys problems are that they want to do both at once. This is not the best approach. A couple of months of cutting and ONLY cutting will get the desired result quicker. A cutting phase is serious bidness. So for the cutting phase I'm switching to mostly plyometrics. Dips, back dips, pull-ups, push-ups, elevated push-ups (feet up), crunches out the yin yang, leg-raises, and round after round on the various Boxing apparatus with 16oz gloves on and ankle-wights on is doing wonders.

- I quit drinking EVERYTHING save for Crystal Light and water. Only on rare occasion do I have anything else and I strategically place it.

- I am now even analytical of what protein shakes and stuff I snack on. I've all but quit using bars because of the binders in them. Instead I use the Instone pudding that has no sugar and none of those binders. In terms of shakes (Ready-to-Drinks I mean, at home I make my own) I use lowest calorie, lowest sodium, which turns out to be ABB's Pure Pro (I think), in the Cookies and Cream flavor. I snack on stuff like Rivets (also ABB) and Rice Cakes.

It can be done man, but it's just going to take a lot of hard work and eating torture.

 

[Madmick]

Yeah, thanks for keeping me in check. I need to work harder. And be patient. Shit, that's what my sensei is screaming at me half the time: "You're like a white dude on crack!"

I'm definitely upping the cardio. My boss, when he trains pro athletes, said he learned quickly to put the core at the beginning of workouts; it's true, in principle, that working small muscles should be relegated to the end of a resistance training session...but, he said, the guys (NFL, NBA, & MLB players) would always make excuses and rationalize: "Nah, I'm too tired right now, I put everything into my workout, it would be overtraining, I'll do it tomorrow." So he said he learned really quickly that putting it at the beginning of workouts resulted in better gains for his athletes- since the core is essential.

I heard that and I figured the same for cardio, so the last month and a half, I've been prioritizing the cardio so I never say, "I'm too tired," or talky-talk during my lifting and run out of time. It's definitely helped my running. I want to get back down to where I was a year and a half ago, when I was 228, and running 5 miles on the treadmill in under 38 1/2 minutes. Maybe that doesn't sound great to everyone in here, but I was proud for a big guy.

Anyways, I'll be doing cardio now 2x a day three days a week (in my off-training days) such that I cross-train for 20-30 consecutive minutes in the morning, then 30-35 minutes splicing my workout later in the day (5 minute warm-up, 5 minutes between core and upper body for two cycles, and 10-15 minutes warm-down...keeping my heart rate nearly constant throughout the workout). He said I'm never to go over an hour a day, never to run when I'm already fatigued, and to get at least one complete rest day a week (since in 2-3 of the days I'm not doing cardio I'm training MMA).

The workout he has me on has much less weightlifting than I'm used to doing. It's mostly functional and there are plyometrics. I'm going to do it for two weeks, then he'll add a couple exercises, then I'll do that for two weeks, then repeat twice more until my volume can't be reasonably increased, then he said- if I'm ready- we'll change my workout to where the volume is the same but the intensity and difficulty is increased.

I'm very excited about it. Just pissed I have a gut. I gotta cry every once in a while, you know.

 

[PariahCarey]

Liposuction?!?!?!? That is the most PAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATHETIC post in the history sherdog. Ok Madmick sorry to flame you and normally i cant stand the tone of your posts but since you were being very honest it earned you some sympathy points.
Having washboard abs and picking up chicks really have nothing to do with each other other than in your mind feeling secure.
Picking up chix is about who you are and how you communicate that to the world.
I would take the money you are going to use on liposuction and find a good therapist to help you with your distorted body image. By getting lipsuction you will be falling into the trap of feeding/reinforcing your insecurity and even if it works that insecurity will rear its ugly head again in other ways.
The ultimate model/persona in MMA on being a chick magnet/pimp is of course Fedor(who is married but i'm just using his style as an example of the height of pimpdom)-relaxed, humble, casual,supremely confident and i don't think he's ever seen an ab muscle show on his body.
It makes sense that you aspire to be a lawyer because law knowlege and ability to use it=power (the darkest secrets shine the brightest)which would compensate for your extreme insecurity (getting liposuction is EXTREME).
My point is martial arts isn't just about fighting and training isn't just about improving ones physical capabilities.Its so much more than that. Even Bruce Lee the greatest advocate of "doing what works" in our time said that his JKD primary purpose was to "express himself HONESTLY." You need to empty your cup brother before you can learn and right now it looks to me like yours is overflowing.

 

[EAGLE]

man..how do you guys find time for training like that??? I go in the morning at 5:30 to 7:00 then I go again at 3:00 to 5:00. and I feel like I am not doing enough, I am only running like 3.5 miles, but I do alot of heavybag and jump rope intervals.

 

[PariahCarey]

man..how do you guys find time for training like that??? I go in the morning at 5:30 to 7:00 then I go again at 3:00 to 5:00. and I feel like I am not doing enough, I am only running like 3.5 miles, but I do alot of heavybag and jump rope intervals.

Thats cause he's a rich SoCal college boy that wouldn't know what time it was if he got slammed by Big Ben. Quality is more important than quanity.

 

[Lusst]

I'm 6' 228lbs and also have a little gut and love handles that I'm trying to get rid of. It can get depressing standing in the mirror, but my wife is really supportive about it and she never makes comments about it.

This is my first week doing 8 20sec sprints w/ 10 rest, so I'll see how that goes. I'm also running 3 miles twice a week, and lifting 2 times a week (DL, Bench, Squat). If I have to choose between weights or cardio, it's weights every time. I would rather have a gut and be strong, than to be ripped and weaker.

What are yall's diets like? I think I eat relatively healthy, but dont know much other than high protein, low fat.

 

[Sinister]

Thats cause he's a rich SoCal college boy that wouldn't know what time it was if he got slammed by Big Ben. Quality is more important than quanity.

No, some of us are just training to do this professionally even though we're dirt poor starting out. When you want to go Pro, you have to train Pro. This isn't suburban commando shit for some of us who are just doing this for vanity and nothing more. Needless to say knowing how to work a schedule efficiently will find you plenty of time to train at a good-enough level to even contend in amatuer events.

 

[Thrillhouse]

Hello all,

I have recently made it a goal of mine to acheive the coveted 6-pack. I've never had this since i've usually been fat most of my life, well up to now at least, and it's just one of my life goals. I've been workin out hard for 4 weeks so far -- mainly all body weight exercises, shadow boxing and just recently mixed in that geurilla cardio and tabata stuff. Plus, strict dieting and really watching calories. I do have my cheat days as well since there's no timeline for me as to when i'll finish.

The one part about my body that my g/f would change if she can, would be my love handles. Everything else about my upperbody is good to her since i got that v-shape action going on and now from the 4 weeks of exercising, my back muscles are becoming more and more defined, my abs are FINALLY taking some form since the fat in that area is decreasing, AND my love handles are decreasing as well, thank goodness.

For me, MOTIVATION (duh! right?) is what's driving me to do this. If you want it bad enough, then believe me, you'll get that motivation (whatever it may be) to do it. And for those that say they don't have time, i'm an accountant (office-jobs suck) that works from 8 - 6, and i can still do my exercises. Most days, i workout 3 times (1 in the morning, 1 when i get back from work before dinner, and 1 like an hour or two before i go to bed). Keep in mind that the morning and last workout aint so extreme or else i'd be wiped out haha.

Anyway, just trying to encourage anyone who's trying to decrease fat....it's the story of my life!

 

[PariahCarey]

No, some of us are just training to do this professionally even though we're dirt poor starting out. When you want to go Pro, you have to train Pro. This isn't suburban commando shit for some of us who are just doing this for vanity and nothing more. Needless to say knowing how to work a schedule efficiently will find you plenty of time to train at a good-enough level to even contend in amatuer events.

The thread i believe is in regards to bodyfat. I hear him talking about getting his weight down, sleeping with chix, going to law school, getting liposuction, some boss who works with lazy professional athletes...i don't see going pro unless you mean going pro bono when he becomes a lawyer.

"When you want to go Pro, you have to train Pro."
Going pro training MMA 2x/week? Closer to suburban commando than going pro. His conditioning isn't gonna help him when he gets subbed in 10 sec...

 

[Sinister]

I wasn't talking specifically about Mick. The person who asked about training twice per day was addressing more than Mick, but myself also. I was responding that not all of us are as you put it, rich kids with nothing better to do. Some of us train as much as we do because we have to.

 

[PariahCarey]

I wasn't talking specifically about Mick. The person who asked about training twice per day was addressing more than Mick, but myself also. I was responding that not all of us are as you put it, rich kids with nothing better to do. Some of us train as much as we do because we have to.

My bad brother.

 

[Sinister]

My bad brother.

It's all good homie.

 

[Ted-P]

Okay, so I understand aesthetics and athletics don't go hand-in-hand. Case in point- Chuck Liddell. But I got a little frustrated today, and I had to get it off my chest. I figured you guys in here to be the only to understand- besides, should it come to that, it hurts less to be ridiculed anonymously.

I had my boss do a fitness evaluation on me, today. Part of the fitness evaluation is the BF% test. I said, "I already know my BF%," and he said, "Yeah, what is it, how'd you measure it?" I told him about the Tanita BC554 scale I ordered and how it's measured me over the past several days at an average of 16%. He then told me when he was in college (about a decade ago) one of his classes did a large-scale study on BF% monitors.

They used as their reference the DEX measurement: Dual Energy X-Rays. This test provides as accurate a reading as the submersion tests.

In comparison, he said, Tanita was the only brand of consumer scale models that was even reliably close to an acceptable deviation, especially if one consistently measured throughout a week and then calculated the averages; nonetheless, it tweaked (for example, it would occassionally read him at 20% when he was at 5%), and for some users never read reliably altogether.

Since he was measuring me with the calipers (skin fold), he mentioned those too, and said that although you'll often hear them maligned, the end result of their test measured the calipers deviation to be 2%.

I am 6'5", 248 lbs. He measured me with calipers, and my result was just over 10%.

What are my woes, then, you ask? Alright, I'll admit, I was enthused to learn I had 10% bodyfat, but...I have a gut and handles. Consider that the healthy range for bodyfat in men my age is 7%-20%. Before, when I thought it was 16%, I figured, "Hey, I can easily lose 22-23 pounds, which is about 9% of my weight, and weigh 225 pounds with a 7%BF. I should be ripped."

Now, the number I can "safely" lose is about 8 pounds, and that will be 240 lbs. This may not seem like a problem, but I was 13 pounds below that weight just a year and a half ago- not with the amount of muscle I have now, but not much less- and I still looked like a fucking Kenmore. My body just loves to put all that fat in my abdomen and back: none for my arms, legs, butt, chest. Maybe you think I'm a pillow fight pussy, but c'mon, how would you like it if you knew the physique you could realistically dream for was like that of the awe-inspiring Tim Sylvia? That guy was on Winstrol and I still couldn't distinguish him from Kirby on my gameboy. I thought the puffy white cloud had come to life.

So that's enough, this has been long, but I wondered...how many of you have had the same problem? Do I have hope? What did you have to get your BF% down to for the bullet abs? Weere you always hungry? Did it affect your training?

I want to fight, but I just broke up with my longtime GF, and I'm on the prowl too.

Do you train in any sport?

 

[Madmick]

Pariah, like I said in my first post, this thread begs flaming, so I would be childish to react to your criticism of my initial frustration...but seriously, dude, grow some fucking skin.

You're pissed because I disagreed with you in the pull-up thread and because I teased you (that was all!) for some bad math. You said, "Training is anecdotal!" Yes, but science is analytical; what this means, in the most basic sense, is that it is anecdotal on a large scale. Or, as Kabuki has pointed out in numerous other threads, what works for you (or your friend) doesn't necessarily work for everyone else. Science tests and reports methods for not just one person, but for a group of people, thereby discovering the methods that work for the majority of people and thus are the best advised to your arbitrary athlete. This is how we eclipsed the dark ages and "anecdotal" medicine; or would you prefer that our doctors still bleed people as a panacea, and insist it works (because it was the only thing they could do), noting the few patients who recovered and citing the treatment as the cure- when in fact the patient survived in spite of it...just as Urban wisely pointed out (in a thread where he and I argued, nonetheless) some athletes today succeed in spite of their training.

The thing that really pissed me off is that in your first post, you purport to (a) care about my emotional well-being (when you later posts obviously reflect you despise me), and (b) apply some bullshit Oprah Winfrey pop-psychology psychoanalysis to my post. And perhaps even more infuriating than even those two things is that you've made several hideously ignorant assumptions about me from a single post. Let's cite a few:

#1: Red Bluff is not in southern california. God, how hard would it have been to search my location with google? My hometown has a population of 15,000, the largest high school FFA club in the state, the biggest 3-day rodeo in the world, the highest county teen pregnancy rate in the nation, is 80% Republican, and is primarily an indigent, agricultural community. The differences between where I live and the OC are more profound than the differences between Boston and Savannah.

#2: I graduated from NYU last winter. Thus, I am not a college boy, I am a college graduate.

#3: Yes, my father is an eye surgeon, and my mother is an RN; thus, my parents are upper-middle class; I am fortunate to benefit from their hard work, but their money is their money, and the single digit hourly wage I earn is mine.

#4: I am insecure. Since when is singularly desiring a six-pack enough to constitute a personal framework of insecurity?

#5: That I'm not sleeping with someone right now. On the prowl= want to nail multiple chicks. I'm glad to learn you're such a cassanova, and citing Fedor as your player, well, holy shit, that is totally unfounded. You're telling me a bunch of shit I already know, but your statement that attractiveness has nothing to do with mate value is- and I'm probably going to use this word a great deal in reference to you- ignorant. If you want proof of this (aside from what everyone sees with his own two eyes), read "Jealousy: The Dangerous Passion" by David Buss. In fact, in initially discovering a mate, and even more in determining their flings, women are as superficial as men. Get a fucking clue.

#6: That I'm entering law to manipulate people. I'm entering law because I was an English major and WTF else am I gonna do that will pay over $50,000 a year? So maybe now you assume I'm materialistic. No. It's just that unlike my parents, and a few fortunate people, I haven't discovered a calling. I don't relish the idea of teaching "Pride and Prejudice" every year until I'm 65, and getting shit on while doing it, and a paltry salary. Furthermore, I am not resolute that I will enter law, but it's the course I've decided on now, while I'm trying to figure out my life. Until I do, I would like to live comfortably, and be able to provide my loved ones the security and joy that these creature comforts bring.

Also, and this is tangential, you seem to hate law as much as you hate Southern California; are you some kind of anarchist? Law is the backbone of civilization, dummy, and if you're too lazy to read a book to understand this, save yourself some time and go watch "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance."

If I were to turn your clinically-bereft psychoanalysis on you, I would say that you are a hypocrite. You bash southern california and this stereotyped image of the carefree, pretty rich boy, but often people are bitter and resentful towards those things they desire but do not have. It seems to me you just want to be that pretty, rich boy with a white-collar past and a white-collar future and a hard-bodied bitch, but perhaps you never had that, and have realized you're unwilling to do the work to obtain it, so you cast aspersions on any you suspect of possessing it: so much so that this image haunts you so deeply that you see it where it is not, and make assumptions that have no validity.

And to wind this down, I love it how people too stupid to understand a textbook try to invalidate it. Textbooks are just part of the curriculum that sports trainers undergo. My boss coaches lazy, professional athletes (and olympians, I might add)? So now guys who swim 60 miles a week are lazy? Do you know how stupid you sound? I guess you're one of those guys who blames it all on talent.

Seriously, dude, grow some fucking skin.

 

[Madmick]

Do you train in any sport?

I was a 3x All-Section swimmer and champion in high school.

I was a two-time Basketball City A-League runner-up (playing ball in college would have meant giving up Christmas vacation, and not seeing my family, since it's across the country).

Now I'm training MMA. I just began this year. Right now it's 2x a week because that's all that's available to me, although I'm trying to see if I can step it up to 3x a week (by joining Mirada's BJJ gym in Chico). After that, I want to add a day of solely boxing with my partner in Corning (the #1 Amateur HW in Nothern California).

Once I help my trainer open his MMA gym in Red Bluff, and manage it, I will have access to unlimited, free private training (since I'm foregoing pay for this, free classes, and free gear...because I love this sport and want to see it grow, even in this hickville). In the meantime, I have my 2 classes a week, my practice with myself, and some occassional training with my trainer's son (who was the #2 Junior Amateur Boxer in the nation and #9 Kickboxer growing up). Right now, that's the best I can do. I have dreams- like anybody else.

Oh yeah, and I weigh 248 pounds and I can do 14 dead hangs. So if you're being sarcastic here, man, you might want to bite your tongue (I apologize if you're not and this is preemptive).

 

[Ted-P]

I was a 3x All-Section swimmer and champion in high school.

I was a two-time Basketball City A-League runner-up (playing ball in college would have meant giving up Christmas vacation, and not seeing my family, since it's across the country).

Now I'm training MMA. I just began this year. Right now it's 2x a week because that's all that's available to me, although I'm trying to see if I can step it up to 3x a week (by joining Mirada's BJJ gym in Chico). After that, I want to add a day of solely boxing with my partner in Corning (the #1 Amateur HW in Nothern California).

Once I help my trainer open his MMA gym in Red Bluff, and manage it, I will have access to unlimited, free private training (since I'm foregoing pay for this, free classes, and free gear...because I love this sport and want to see it grow, even in this hickville). In the meantime, I have my 2 classes a week, my practice with myself, and some occassional training with my trainer's son (who was the #2 Junior Amateur Boxer in the nation and #9 Kickboxer growing up). Right now, that's the best I can do. I have dreams- like anybody else.

Oh yeah, and I weigh 248 pounds and I can do 14 dead hangs. So if you're being sarcastic here, man, you might want to bite your tongue (I apologize if you're not and this is preemptive).

Haha, I'm not sure how I sounded sarcastic, but w/e no biggie.

I was gonna say something, but you train for sports so that comes first instead of your looks.

 

[jpark4]

I had no ab-lines before i started grappling a 1 month ago and working out two months ago has made a big improvment. at the age of 17 i still have the lower fat near the belly button, started trying to lose it for about 2 months now; anyone have suggestions on how i can get rid of that crap?
-Jon