How low should are body fat go

What percent of body fat should fighters hav (male + female),i heard before that low body fat around 4-8% makes you get sick easyer + makes it easyer to get broken bones etc anyone else heard of this

I forget what I learned on this but below 5 or 6 comes to mind...

anyway the reason I am posting is cause i was wondering how much of a difference adequate daily dietary of nutrients and fats etc makes on how low you can go before doing damage...

at uni we did a module on nutrition. guidelines were are as follows for male and female between ages of 20-40

male

below 8% -underfat
8 - 19% - healthy
19 - 25% - overweight
25%+ - obese

women

under 21% - underfat
21 - 33% - healthy
33 - 39% - overweight
39%+ - obese

only rough guidelines. as you get older the figures get higher.

females are higher and need to be not to mess with ccles, however some want to mess with though I don't htink healthy...

I think you can go lower, at least males, from the above.. can you ste your source please?

like I said I don't recall but that sounds high

I remember an article in muscle media magazine years ago when it was still muscle media 2000 that stated you shouldn't have a body fat level lower than 7 per cent for prolonged periods as it weakened the immune system and other bodily functions. It was ok for one off events etc but better to be around the 7 to 8 per cent level otherwise. I think some body builders will register 2 per cent body fat for a show which is outrageously low! I think when your bodyfat is too low anyway it can leave you looking older in the face as it becomes gaunt in appearance.

I remember an article in muscle media magazine years ago when it was still muscle media 2000 that stated you shouldn't have a body fat level lower than 7 per cent for prolonged periods as it weakened the immune system and other bodily functions. It was ok for one off events etc but better to be around the 7 to 8 per cent level otherwise. I think some body builders will register 2 per cent body fat for a show which is outrageously low! I think when your bodyfat is too low anyway it can leave you looking older in the face as it becomes gaunt in appearance.

when i came back from thailand my body fat was about 6-7% and i was in the best shape of my life. i am quite lean though.

was given the info on a handout at a lecture at uni by the tutor. i couldn't tell you where he got it from but he knews his stuff so i'd imagine it fairly accurate for a rough guideline.

If you are a 70kg figher with 10% body fat you will have 10kgs of fat yes,so buy loseing 3% fat you are down kgs without losing any power,but i was told for every percent below 8% is 3 times harder to lose

I've been getting 7% for males...

http://journals.lww.com/acsm-msse/Fulltext/1996/10000/ACSM_Position_Stand__Weight_Loss_in_Wrestlers.49.aspx

This is a really good source of info from ACSM (source often used by UK dietitians) which has studied eating habits of wrestlers. Granted, this isn't the sport of wrestling but there's still a lot of valid info when it comes to cutting weight, especially...

"The combination of food restriction and fluid deprivation creates a synergistic, adverse physiologic effect on the body leaving the wrestler ill-prepared to compete.
In addition, most forms of dehydration, e.g., sweating and catharsis, contribute to the loss of electrolytes as well as water (5,9). Wrestlers hope to replenish body fluids, electrolytes, and glycogen in the brief period (30 min-20 h) between the weigh-in and competition.

However, re-establishing fluid homeostasis may take 24-48 h (10); replenishing muscle glycogen may take as long as 72 h (11,25)!!!, and replacing lean tissue might take even longer. In short, weight cutting appears to adversely influence the wrestler's energy reserves and fluid and electrolyte balances"

"Males 16 yr and younger with a body fat below 7% or those over 16 yr with a body fat below 5% need medical clearance before being allowed to compete. Female wrestlers need a minimal body fat of 12%-14% (33)."

Although this was written in 1996, it still has some KEY info for anyone wanting to cut weight and the possible chronic consequences of using 'traditional' techniques.

What would the body fat be of someone like Frank Bruno i.e. the really ripped fighters?

Would it still be surprisingly high (relatively speaking), even though they look 100% muscle bound?

http://ajs.sagepub.com/content/11/6/398.abstract

The above study looked at Olympic boxers and they were on average 6.9% body fat (give or take 1.6%), which is very low. Bruno was probably around that figure I reckon.

I also reckon that when boxers/athletes look ridiculously ripped like that, a lot of the time it's down to dehydration on top of low body fat.
That's what body builders do to get their definition just before competition.

A friend of mine is a bodybuilder and he got his checked a week before a show on a very expensive machine and it was 1% and man who checked it thought the machine was broken and double checked it with others there, he won the Mr Ireland comp but got very sick after it, supposed to be a very dangerous level to be at.

There is a difference between mere mortals and elite level athletes
Most research suggests 7% is sustainable. I know when Colin Jackson broke the world record he was at 5%. He said he thinks he was malnourished, this was more to do with his extreme diet than the body fat itself.

Also most body fat tests are inaccurate. 6 site Skin fold can be fairly reliable but rest on the skill of the person conducting the test.

I float around 12% between fights and drop to 7-6% in the last week before a fight, before the weight cut....This is done with the skin-fold tests so are as close to accurate as I can find.

I believe 8 to 12 is considered ideal for the average active male while 5 to 7 percent is considered an "athletic range". Under 5 percent is unhealthy and detrimental to the immune system from what ive read.

is there a easy way to work out your own body fat?im not very clued up on this subject?

Not accurately, without skinfold test. GOOD quality bioimpedance isnt bad but a machine is not cheap.

Any Uni's close to you Hustler? Might be worth asking there.

had a skin fold test and result was 10.8% which was ok.

In 1996 i got to around 4-5% and ended up in hospital under a special diet to builed me back up. Thought i was doing every thing right by training like a mad man eating as little as needed until i had a bad turn at work were i nearly collapsed. Doctor told me if i carried on what and how i was doing it my body would have started to shut down (very scary) not a place i would wish on any one.
Get proper advice how to cut weight correctly with the correct nuitritional advice work out your metobolic rate etc.

Im 18, 6'1 and fight at 67-71kg. I walk round at about 76kg, which when doing a test (not sure which one, possibly a skinfold??) i was measuring at 13.4%.
When i drop down to 67kg im about 5-6% i think.

Im amazed that this is not used more for determining a fighters ideal weight and fighting class.
Also, your body fat %'s above are dependent on the number of points measured and formula used - so the exmaples are not accurately comparable.

Also,
I had my body fats levels done during a proper medical checkup, using electrolysis. They told me 25% which I reckoned was very high (I presumed that meant lard ass).
I bought BodyCare calipers and using the 4 point (as below):
# tricep (got 8)
# bicep (6)
# back - below right shoulder blade (16)
# waist - right level with belly button (12)
I got a total of 42, which equates to 20% using the provided chart.

How are you doing yours?

Ive just done again after 5 weeks in Thailand and its 18.5%

Additionally, my Caliper instructions manual states the following ideal %'s:
Upto age 30 should be 9-15%
from age 30 to 50 should be 11-17%
from age 50 upwards 12-19%

will this not be effected by your metabolism as well, because i'm naturally slim/skinny but only cut arnd 3-5kg for fights. when fight training i walk around at 64-65kg