Typical Body Fat Amounts
Different cultures value different body compositions differently at different times, and some are related to health or different athletic performance. Levels of body fat are epidemiologically dependent on different gender and age. Different authorities have developed different recommendations for ideal body fat percentages. The table below from the American Council on Exercise (not an official government agency) recommends the following percentages:
| Description | Women | Men |
|---|---|---|
| Essential fat | 10–13% | 2–5% |
| Athletes | 14–20% | 6–13% |
| Fitness | 21–24% | 14–17% |
| Average | 25–31% | 18–24% |
| Obese | 32%+ | 25%+ |
Essential fat is the level below which physical and physiological health would be negatively affected. Controversy exists as to whether a particular body fat percentage is better for one's health; athletic performance may also be affected. The leanest athletes typically compete at levels of about 6–13% for men or 14–20% for women. Bodybuilders may compete at ranges even lower than these levels. Certified personal trainers will suggest to male bodybuilders that they aim for a body fat percentage between 2–4% by contest time. However it is unclear that such levels are ever actually attained since (a) the means to measure such levels are, as noted below, lacking in principle, and (b) 4-6% is generally considered a physiological minimum for human males.
Read more about this topic: Body Fat Percentage
Famous quotes containing the words typical, body, fat and/or amounts:
“The books may say that nine-month-olds crawl, say their first words, and are afraid of strangers. Your exuberantly concrete and special nine-month-old hasn’t read them. She may be walking already, not saying a word and smiling gleefully at every stranger she sees. . . . You can support her best by helping her learn what she’s trying to learn, not what the books say a typical child ought to be learning.”
—Amy Laura Dombro (20th century)
“Mountains are to the rest of the body of the earth, what violent muscular action is to the body of man. The muscles and tendons of its anatomy are, in the mountain, brought out with force and convulsive energy, full of expression, passion, and strength.”
—John Ruskin (1819–1900)
“I held my breath
and daddy was there,
his thumbs, his fat skull,
his teeth, his hair growing
like a field or a shawl.”
—Anne Sexton (1928–1974)
“To assert in any case that a man must be absolutely cut off from society because he is absolutely evil amounts to saying that society is absolutely good, and no-one in his right mind will believe this today.”
—Albert Camus (1913–1960)