Body Fat Comparison
In the book “SLICED” by Bill Reynolds & Negrita Jayde, the states of muscularity are objectified as follows:
“House” >= 20% - No visible muscle definition, and only a hint of separation between major muscle groups, if those groups are very large. Basically a person in this state could be confused for a football lineman. If you’re higher than this bodyfat percentage, you’d be considered overweight/obese.
“Hard” >= 15% - Some muscle separation appears between delts and upper arm. Abs are still not visible
“Cut” – >= 12% – More muscle separation appears particularly in the chest and back, outline of the abs begins to appear slightly.
“Defined” >= 10% – Muscle separations get deeper in the arms, chest, legs and back, and abs appear when flexed.
“Ripped” >= 7-9% – Abs are clearly visible all the time, vascularity in arms is prominent, chest and back separation is obvious, and face is starting to appear more angular. Condition can be held indefinitely.
“Shredded” >=5-7% – Striations appear in large muscle groups when flexed. Vascularity appears in lower abdomen and in the legs. Condition can be held for several days with careful dieting. Competitive bodybuilders often aim for this state for competition day.
“Sliced” <= 3% – Muscles and tendons begin to appear in the face. Muscle striations and vascularity highly visible. Subcutaneous water levels are near 0. Condition can only be held for a few hours at a time. Not a healthy condition to stay in due to lower water level. Note – The male body requires 3% body fat for normal bodily function, women require 12%.
Tags: body building, Body Composition, body composition comparison, body fat, body fat comparison, body fat percentage, cut, defined, fat, hard, obese, ripped, shredded, sliced, toned
Posted on Saturday, April 2nd, 2011
at 5:30 pm.
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7 comments already!
Dan, this is an interesting post, since you know I am very interested in changing my body composition. I’m curious how many of your clients you have seen go to 12% or less body fat, and if this can be sustained over an extended period of time. Do you have a body composition goal for your triathlon?
Ed,
12% body fat and below requires a disciplined mix of diet, training, sleep, and stress management. Too much or too little of any, can interfere with your results. Currently, I do not have anyone who is below 12%, but many are gearing up for a cut cycle after a winter of adding mass.
I do not have a specific body comp in mind for triathlon training, as my focus is performance, and less aesthetic. Im more concerned about maintaining the muscle I do have now, and getting adequate calories in to sustain a higher volume of cardio training.
Dan, neat post. The numbers seem kind of low, but I would say that “defined” is probably the more sought after place. In your opinion, would the “cut” and “hard” people fall more into the defined category if they just added muscle mass or would they need to lose some body fat in conjunction?
As always, thank you for commenting, Glenn. There is great aesthetic variation within the same body fat percentage. Also, as flawed as even the most sophisticated body comp measurements, these numbers are open to interpretation. You could have a very lean individual with little to know muscle definition. Though many times the two go hand in hand.
The beginning photos were really helpful showing me when people see as jacked and ripped. This article made me pack up my gym bag and go pump some iron and burn fat.
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Dan, thanks for guiding me over the past year to 15% body fat, and congratuations to you on reaching 6%. I do wonder about health, and what are good goals for better health. I can’t believe the guy at 3% is doing himself any good healthwise….