r/SubredditDrama • u/[deleted] • Mar 31 '14

Redditor in /r/bodybuilding is convinced that Basketball players regularly get their bodyfat down to 3.8-4% and keep it their naturally.

/r/bodybuilding/comments/21ppg9/is_this_like_0_body_fat_i_cant_imagine_going_any/cgfho1w
6 Upvotes

72% Upvoted

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2

u/[deleted] Mar 31 '14

Question for the floor: how does one actually calculate body fat? Obviously it's not based on weigh (because bodybuilders are huge, and also terrifyingly muscular) so how do they determine it? Little grabby claws to pinch the fat or...?

3

u/SirWalterSobchack Mar 31 '14

Various ways. You have the caliper test (grabby claws), water displacement tests, DEXA scans, as well as others I'm sure I'm not listing. Electrical Impedance tests (those handles you grab/scales with metal on the bottom) are generally what the public thinks of when discussion BF, and those also have the worst margin of error.

Basically, without these tools (save the EI tests), and someone competent using them, you aren't going to be getting an accurate result.

2

u/[deleted] Mar 31 '14

Wow, so it's really quite a complicated business to get someone's body fat recorded! I didn't realize that it required such well-trained test administrators and equipment and whatnot. The More You Know.

1

u/SirWalterSobchack Mar 31 '14

To be fair, you can get a decent approximation with the Impedance test (I think it's like ~5% variance, but I'm not sure), but without getting someone competent to administer the tests, it's all guess work. More to the point, anything under 5%BF is unsustainable for more than a short period of time (hours), and even approaching 5% become insanely difficult to maintain.

TL:DR; It's complicated to do right.

3

u/NekoQT Mar 31 '14

keep it their

2

u/CantaloupeCamper Mar 31 '14

If someone doesn't get in a fight about this I'll be disappointed.