Please Scroll Down to See Forums Below
Best Body Fat % for LBM Gains
- Thread starter NegroPops
- Start date
northernknight
New member
Yea, same with me. In my experience when I'm at 12-13% BF it seems to be optimal for me to gain size. If my BF is in single digits I get lot more exhausted from my workouts, especially when lifting with high intensity.
Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 4
Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 4
10% and under; I don't really recommend bulking when guys are 12% because most get their bodyfat measurements wrong by at least 1% (sometimes up to 3%).
I agree with this as well. My best gains are made in the single digits. Its much easier to see progress made when you are leaner
From my experience, yes. As a matter of fact, the biggest gains in the shortest amount of time I've ever made was immediately after doing a contest, at which I was 4.5% bodyfat. I was hitting PRs within 2-3 weeks after the show. Pretty good considering I was coming off of a defecit prep diet for 12 weeks and was in a weakened state.
gjohnson5
New member
IMHO no. At 10%,a person is much free-er on calories especially carbs. Several cheat meals will have less effect on the 10% person. Also most people can maintain 10% bodyfat without having to do loads of cardio. Maintaining 6-7% would be a chore for alot of people.
You are wrong about the 10% person having more diet leniency on cheat meals. It's a proven fact that you are allowed more cheats and even encouraged to have more Cheats the leaner you get. If you've ever been extremely lean you would understand the aspect, but most people haven't been in stage condition. Near the end of my prep I was up to 3 big Cheat meals per week and still losing at a fast pace. When you are that lean and your metabolism is ramped up that high, you have to have those big refeed high cal high carb days often to optimize leptin and grehlin levels to continue getting lean. It's very ironic, but if you don't do that fat loss can stall easily. At 10% bodyfat I would have gained fat on what I was doing on my Cheat days when I was sub 6%. I could probably only afford about one cheat per week at 10%, but I honestly don't know since the fattest I've been is about 8.5% over the last 2 years. You guys would shit if you seen what I ate on my cheat days, and I have veins spidering across my abs all year long
gjohnson5
New member
IMHO 10% person would be able to eat cheat meals and then would be able to be more intense in the gym because he has more calories stored. IMHO in order to maintain 6% one cannot have an big excess calories stored or they would not be able to maintain that low bodyfat. In order to maintain the 6% one would have to cardio the extra calories instead of using them as energy in the weight room. Building muscle and being in an anabolic state has alot to do with calories eaten. Dorian Yates said ALL his major injuries came from DIETING and trying to maintain intensy in the gym. If one relaxes the diet , they can be more intense and build more muscle.
Anyway, If you're saying that you would not maintain the 6% and allow yourself to increase fat , then I agree. I disagree if you're saying one is encouraged to eat extra calories and still be able to maintain 6% There isn't that much of a difference in metabolism from one being 6% and 10%
I was around 6% the first 30 years of my life year around. However I was not eating the calories that I am now. So maintaining 6% was easy because I wasn't really eating. It wasn't because my metabolism was somehow through the roof. It was faster then it is now. But that is really a red herring. Anyway after 30, my metabolism did drop, my strength and size shot through the roof. The calories I could eat increased significantly, but so did bodyfat. The increase (in calories eaten) allowed me to be more intense in the gym.
3 cheat meals a week is about what I do now
ghrelin has been shown to assist fat loss. Leptin however ,has shows lipolysis increases in RODENT studies. Human studies have been done in infusing leptin inside a person with no change in fat loss... Probably due to leptin resistance
The role of leptin in human lipid and glucose metabolism: the effects of acute recombinant human leptin infusion in young healthy males
My experience and your experience are exactly opposite. When I was low bodyfat I really wasn't eating the calories I thought, even with a cheat meal here and there. It's basically the same advise I give people when they are hard gainers and want to bulk. Most of them are't eating what they think they are and hence not putting on weight. I don't think it's a significant metabolism difference , but an energy balance difference.
