General guidelines for what certain BF percentages look like

[Phineas]

Google Image Result for http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/07/30/magazine/03bodies01_500.jpg

I've searched many times out of curiosity to see what the various bodyfats look like on men. I've seen so many discrepancies, though.

For instance, if you check the link above look at the first guy. How the hell is that 15%? I would have guessed he was over 20%. I know everyone stores fat differently, but I would still think there are some generalizations.

Does anyone know of any sites that show realistic images?

 

[aja44]

There must be a shit load of typo's on this article or their using some weird way to determine BF. There is no way the first guy is 15%, I look 100x's better than that and I'm 240 @ about 19%. And they also have the 3rd guy, Shawn, listed with 11" arms and at 4%. I would expect 4% to be much more vascular and my 12 year old has 11 inch arms.

 

[Phineas]

Here's something interesting: what a pound of fat actually looks like.

http://www.mosesong.com/blog_images/06_12_04_fat3.jpg

There are piles of other pictures, but they're basically the same thing. So, that's what fat looks like, lol. I honestly didn't think it would be that large in volume.

Bearing that in mind, wouldn't a simple loss of 5 lbs make a huge difference in appearance? Unless the person is very obese. I've estimated myself for the majority of my bulk to be about 13-15%. I'm now about 13% as I'm cutting, but even then I can't imagine having that much fat. I weigh about 194, which would mean I have 25 lbs of fat. However, I have definition in my legs, upper back, and outlines in the abs. I know I'm not "lean" by any stretch, but considering how solid I am (can't really even grab much on my lower abs..just can't see them) and how much muscle mass I've developed I can't get how I would have that much of that fat, if that's how large 1 pound is.

Someone shed some light on this, please?

 

[Phineas]

There must be a shit load of typo's on this article or their using some weird way to determine BF. There is no way the first guy is 15%, I look 100x's better than that and I'm 240 @ about 19%. And they also have the 3rd guy, Shawn, listed with 11" arms and at 4%. I would expect 4% to be much more vascular and my 12 year old has 11 inch arms.

Exactly! How about the rower with the 200+ bench. I know size and strength don't necessarily correlate, but come on!

 

[Tyler3295]

Yeah, those are waayy too low. What is that first guy, like 25%? Lol.

 

[Marat]

The percentages are probably measured with calipers. The 15% guy and the 4% guy appear a bit fatter than their numbers indicate.

Here is 5.5%: