Burn The Fat, Feed The MuscleWant Abs Like This?
What is the Ideal Body Fat to See Your Abs?Measuring your body fat percentage is a valuable tool to chart your progress on your quest to get six pack abs. Hopefully most people realize by now that abdominal exercises don’t burn fat off your stomach. Abs are made in the kitchen, not just in the gym. No matter how much you work out, if you don’t eat right and achieve a calorie deficit, your abs will remain covered in a layer of adipose. When the realization hits you that you must reduce your body fat percentage to see your abs, one of the biggest questions that pops into your mind is, “how low do I have to get my body fat percentage to see my abs?” It’s a tough question and the answer may be different for men than women. Here's what I'd recommend: First, get familiar with some benchmarks for body fat levels. My Burn The Fat System has a body fat rating scale, which includes averages and my suggested optimal body fat percentages. This is my own chart, which I created with a combination of research literature and my own personal experience.
WOMEN: Competition Shape ("ripped"): 8-12% Very Lean (excellent): < 15% Lean (good): 16-20% Satisfactory (fair): 21-25% Improvement needed (poor): 26-30% Major improvement needed (Very poor): 31-40%+ MEN: Competition Shape ("ripped"): 3-6% Very Lean (excellent): < 9% Lean (good): 10-14% Satisfactory (fair): 15-19% Improvement needed (poor): 20-25% Major improvement needed (Very poor): 26-30%+ Just a quick note: You're not destined to get fatter as you get older, but in the general population (not fitness and bodybuilding folks), the average older person has more body fat.
Also, just so the average reader can keep things in perspective, single digit body fat for women and low single digits for men is far beyond lean - it's RIPPED - and that's usually solely the domain of competitive physique athletes. Competition body fat levels were not meant to be maintained all year round. It's not realistic and it may not be healthy, particularly for women. For most women, 12% body fat or thereabouts is ripped, and for many, that's contest ready (figure or fitness competition). Just for comparison, I've done over 7,000 body fat tests during my career, and the lowest I have ever measured on a female was 8.9% (4-site skinfold method). She was a national-level figure competitor and she was shredded - full six pack of abs... "onion skin!" However, I do know some women who get down to 11-13% body fat - by all standards extremely lean, complete with six pack abs - but oddly, they still had a few stubborn fat spots - usually the hips and lower body.
What about guys? Well, I know a guy who looks absolutely chiseled in his abs at 11% body fat, but other guys don't look really cut in the abs until they get down to 6-8% body fat. Bodybuilders usually aren’t ready for competition until they get below 6%. That's the trouble with trying to pin down one specific body fat number as THE body fat level for seeing 6-pack abs (or being ripped and contest-ready): Everyone distributes their body fat differently and two people may look different at the same percentage. The average guy or gal should probably aim for the "lean" category as a realistic year round goal, or if you're really ambitious and dedicated, the "very lean category." You'll probably have to hit the "very lean" category for six pack abs. However, the bottom line is that there's no "perfect" body fat percentage where you're assured of seeing your abs. Besides, body fat is one of those numbers that gets fudged and exaggerated all the time. I hear reports of women with body fat between 4% and 8% and I usually dismiss it as error in measurement (or there's some "assistance" involved). Body fat testing, especially with skinfolds, is not an exact science. All body fat tests are estimations and there is always room for human error. The low numbers are nice for bragging rights, but the judges don't measure your body fat on stage. What counts is how you look and whether you're happy with that (or whether the judges are happy with it, if you're competing). You can use my chart to help you set some initial goals, but for the most part, I recommend using body fat testing as a way of charting your progress over time to see if you're improving rather than pursuing some holy grail number.
In my Burn The fat, Feed The Muscle program, you can learn more about how to measure your body fat - professionally or even by yourself in the privacy of your own home. Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle explains why body mass index and height and weight charts are virtually worthless, and shows you how to track your body composition over time and "tweak" your nutrition and training according to your weekly results.
Tom Venuto Releases "The Body Fat Solution"For Immediate Release. Saturday, October 25, 2008
From The Publisher (Avery Books/Penguin Group)
New York City
New Hardcover Book By Tom Venuto Reveals the 5 Principles for Burning Fat, Building Lean Muscle, Ending Emotional Eating and Maintaining Your Perfect Weight. By now, we all know that we gain fat when we take in more calories than we burn. But we’re not always rational creatures when it comes to food and exercise. Recognizing the emotional and psychological factors that sabotage success, Tom Venuto’s new Book, The Body Fat Solution (Avery/Penguin Group) hones in on the real causes of body-fat and provides a sound plan to take back control of our bodies and end emotional eating for good. In The Body Fat Solution, Venuto outlines the five principles that will retrain your mind and body for automatic success. Determined to help you keep the fat off for good, Tom shows you how to: End emotional eating and stop diet self sabotage Re-program your mind for "auto-pilot" success Go beyond goal setting by crafting a powerful "vision" that motivates you for life Eat healthy, delicious food almost unconsciously and shed the pounds effortlessly Increase your metabolism and break any fat loss plateau Reshape your body through lean muscle training for a strong core and toned frame Build a supportive social network of friends, family, and mentors to help you achieve your dream for life Venuto reminds us that calories do count! But The Body Fat Solution is neither super low carb nor super low fat, and he steers clear of demonizing entire food groups. Instead, Venuto helps you personalize an eating plan that takes into account your unique metabolism and calorie needs. He then presents illustrated workout programs to maximize the success of the diet plan that are fast and efficient. Most important, he helps you plan and organize your life so that you can fully implement your new goals and monitor your progress, and finally maintain your perfect weight for life. Tapping into his years of training expertise and personal experience, Venuto helps readers change their relationship with food, empowers them to take charge of their lives, and delivers a program that promises dramatic and permanent results. ------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------ ADVANCED PRAISE FOR THE BODY FAT SOLUTION: ------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------ "Read this book--if you want to lose weight, improve your body and your health, and keep up these improvements for life. Tom Venuto gives it to you straight, basing his program on solid science and common sense. You will come away with a new feeling of inspiration and a new action plan to get you started and keep you on track to help you reach your goals--and then beyond." .-Judith S. Beck, Ph.D. Author of The Complete Beck Diet for Life. Director, Beck Institute for Cognitive Therapy and Research Associate Professor of Psychology in Psychiatry, University of Pennsylvania "At last, easy, concise, no excuses - get skinny - this is the guide Great work, Tom!" - Richard Bandler, co-founder of NLP, author, "Get The Life You Want" "Tom Venuto's Body Fat Solution is one of the most important books on health, happiness and physical well-being ever written. In this fast-moving, easily usable series of methods and techniques, you learn how to enjoy superb physical fitness, achieve your ideal weight, and feel terrific about yourself both emotionally and spiritually." Brian Tracy - Motivational Speaker, Author "Reinvention" "In 2003 Tom Venuto changed the fat loss world with his ebook "Burn the Fat - Feed the Muscle" ... In 2008 he's done it again with the Body Fat Solution. The World's expert on fat loss speaks - I listen. I've often said - Fat loss doesn't start with an exercise rogram, a diet or a supplement... It starts with a mindset shift. That mindset shift begins with Tom's new book. If you want to change your body - you need to change your mind. And to do that - you need Tom Venuto." - Alwyn Cosgrove, Co-Author, The New Rules of Lifting and The New Rules of Lifting for Women
Tom's Predictions for Your Fat Loss in 2008!Tom Answers Your Questions!Does Losing Fat Release Toxins In Your Body? Click Here For Tom's Answer! Who Is Tom Venuto?Tom Venuto is a personal trainer, success coach, nutrition consultant, health club manager, write and competitive natural bodybuilder. His expert fitness and bodybuilding articles have appeared in Ironman Magazine, Muscular Development, Men's Fitness and many other popular magazines. His educational background credits him with a B.Sc. in exercise science. He is also a "Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist" (CSCS) from the National Strength & Conditioning Association (NSCA). This is one of the top certifications for personal trainers to hold.
His success in natural bodybuilding competitions has included numerous titles in state and regional competitions and runner-up at the Natural Mr. USA and Natural North America. He has also found time to write the top-selling fitness ebook on the internet, Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle. This is a complete program designed for the fat loss phase of bodybuilding training. It teaches you the fundamentals of weight loss as well as the advanced bodybuilding techniques used by the top natural bodybuilders to attain the world's most impressive physiques |
