S – Annie, 16.2%
M – Dino, 17.65%
L – Matrix2pyro, 16.3%
XL – Porter, 13.4%
I’ll be contacting you all in a couple minutes….
As I said in the Update, nearly everyone I know had me at 10-12%. (You can click here if you really want to see the pictures again.)
So, you could imagine my shock (and awe….but more like, horror) when I saw the results.
Again, a picture is worth a thousand words. 🙁
For those of you that might have less than stellar eyesight, that’s 16.4%!!
The “cool” thing is now that I have some more reliable results, I went back to my genetic potential calculator and found out that I could actually walk around at 190lb. @ 8% bodyfat. Of course, that also means I need to gain about 25lb. of purely lean muscle and drop an additional 8% bodyfat. This will take some time, but I don’t expect it to happen within the next year. 2 years will be pushing it, but not unrealistic. We shall see what happens…
Lastly, thanks again for all your guesses!! Granted, it took bribery, but I FINALLY have a post with over 50 comments on it! :-p
Dave, have you ever used one of those body fat composition websites where you throw in your height, waist and neck sizes? If so, how accurate was it compared to the bod pod? I’ve wanted to give the bod pod a try, but the nearest one I can find is like an hour away.
BTW, I only said 17.65% because I wanted to win the shirt. I would have bet big money on 15.3%
I have not, but I suppose now would be the best time to do it. Nice suggestion.
BTW, you would have won with either of those guesses. 😉
Are you planning on doing an alternative test? Maybe an underwater test? Don’t get me wrong, I love free t-shirts, but I seriously doubt the accuracy of these results.
The Bod Pod is accurate to +/- 2-4% so it is pretty variable. It’s still better than calipers where the skill of the tester is HUGE. I do have access to that, but other than the comparing it to some of the web calculators, I don’t plan on any water or DEXA tests in the near future. The Bod Pod was only $20. Hard to pass up!
As you can see, from my guess, I am pretty terrible at estimating these sorts of things…why is the water test hard to get done? With all of the University’s in your area, it should be readily available. Meanwhile, do you plan to experiment with your diet and/or exercise regimen? I am looking forward to your follow-up posts.
As you can see, pretty much everyone, myself included, was bad at guessing this thing. I know water testing is readily available, I just don’t know if how much it costs. I suppose I could take 5 min. to figure it out. OR ask my friend getting his PhD or my friend interning as a grad assistant trainer. Hahaha
I think my diet is pretty decent. As I stated in earlier posts, I gained 5lb. over July 4th weekend. I lost that plus another pound by the day of the testing. And as you know, that’s including eating “junk food”. My main adjustment will be more inspired training sessions and more often. Right now only 1 out of my 3 workouts per week are intense. There’s a new training studio opening that I’m hoping to work a deal with, and if it works out, I plan on lifting 4-6 days per week with a kick ass environment. Results to follow…
nice i was only .2% off on my second guess lol
so i wander is that a win that you can be so “high” but look so good?
or maybe how everybody is different, how some might need to be so much lower to show abs then others?
your obviously figted to look that good but still be so high
I would have guessed in the 10-12% range, too. Did the person administering the test make any comments as to whether he/she thought your bf value was accurate?
If I hadn’t seen Mark Sisson’s (of Mark’s Daily Apple) 12/23/09 post, I’d simply assume you’re hiding fat on your thighs. Mark, too, ran a little contest. This is what he looks like:
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/contest-guess-my-body-fat-percentage/
And these are the results he got with hydrostatic weighing (the “gold standard” of bf measurements, right?):
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/the-value-of-lab-values/
He got a value of 16.9%. Now go back and look at his photo. Even the woman administering the test couldn’t believe the result (she’d guessed ~8%), repeated it twice and finally simply gave him his money back because she was completely stymied.
So, I wouldn’t be in a rush to call your values a “reliable result”.
Question: If you’d gotten a value of 10% would you still be increasing the intensity of your training?
@Derrick
That’s a tough call. I think you had it right both ways in your comment in the previous post. Yes, it’s a “win” that I still look this good while eating food most health nuts determine as “bad”. Then again, I think I’m just doing things right, and that ALLOWS me to eat like that. Trust me, I am no genetic freak.
On the other hand, 16% is still 16%. So in that regards, yep, probably a fail.
Either way, oh well. These next 4 months are going to be freaky. Results to follow.
@Milda
The great thing about the Bod Pod is that there is absolutely no operator error involved. Everything is electronic and the system is self calibrating between each person. It also runs the test 3 times and takes the average as long as all 3 tests are within a couple tenths of a percent. It uses air volume (moreso, air volume displacement) to get your “body volume”, as shown above, and your weight to calculate your body density. From there, your overall percentage.
That said, it’s still only +/- 2-4% accurate. But again, it runs the test 3 times so it must have been close to 16.4% three times.
Hydrostatic is no longer the gold standard, but it is still the second best. DEXA is now #1 and even that has error.
One theory is that I have more visceral fat than sub-Q fat. Maybe.
Lastly, yes, I would still increase my training *frequency*. 2-3 days per week just isn’t cutting it, as would easily be assumed. And, just like I told Derrick above, the next 4 months, something freaky is gonna happen. You’ll just have to wait and see. 😉
Let’s take the machine and the results out of the equation. How did you feel about your physique prior to the test?
You mentioned that you and others w/ a trained eye guessed 10-12%. If you are happy w/ that, isn’t that all that matters?
Another possibility is that there are so many people claiming unrealistic body fat percentages that it’s skewed our expectations…kind of like “grade inflation”. Even a “trained eye” can lose focus.
Per matrix2pyro, are you happy with how you look?
Soooo, what’s happening over the next four months?
Well I missed this as we were on vacation with zero internet, but I never would have guessed correctly. I thought my guess of 12.5% would be high.
Regardless of results, I’d still love to lose the love handles….which I haven’t been prioritizing in my training. I pretty much always train for strength.
Over the next 4 months I have to go through a physique transformation as part of my movement coaching certification. I have certain goals, but I’m gona keep those under wraps until the “unveiling” in December. Haha
everything iv heard, visceral fat is the fat around the organs, the msot dangerous kind… also you need to do cardio to get rid of it, which we all know your not a fan of lol…
either way.. goodluck…im pretty much doing the same thing.. iv been slackin, especially with surgery.. i cant imagine i ahvent gained a bit of weight for not barely moving for 10 days and eating what i want lol
Not complaining or anything but do I read that right? You can take up to 2 years to gain 25 lbs of lean muscle? I mean, I know that the folks talking fast-track stuff are BS, just wondering here.
@Derrick
I’ll be putting that theory to the test, that’s for sure. 😉
@Jay
Depending on who you talk to, some people think you can only gain about 3lb. of skeletal muscle in a year. I tend to think that’s BS, but yes, 2 years seems very realistic for 25lb. Your genetic disposition to gaining muscle/fat also plays a huge part.