baron I thought that I would write a theme song for your thread. It has the same tune as one of his old time favorites. Everyone is welcome to add lyrics to the song. Here goes: I get no kick from romaine. Even a bean, sometime makes me turn green. So tell me dear, could it be true. that spam and bologna's good for you.
you look way lower than 12% there. I'm around 10-11% and i don't have that much definition. i'm low-carbing now, trying to get to 8-9% while keeping muscle. i do cardio 5x per week plus strength training 2-3x per week. about 7 hrs of exercise weekly. once you get below 11% it gets really hard.
I use an electronic scale that tells me my body fat, other then that it hasn't been measured; however I have 2 scales and both are within a point of each other.
My electronic scale usually says I'm between 19% and 21% bodyfat. I think it's either screwed up, or I have a lot more bodyfat than I realize.
Those scales are not a very good measure at all. I've had readings from 14% at my gym to 22% on one at a retail store, all in the same week. People who are "denser", i.e. solid bone structure with more muscle will tend to throw those scales off towards the high end. A good body fat measure needs to take into account your bone structure and muscle mass. Here is one I've found to be fairly accurate: http://www.healthcentral.com/cholesterol/home-body-fat-test-2774-143.html This one puts me right at 15.5% which I think is accurate. I'm 192 and 6'1" and exercise a lot (lots of surfing and cardio, 30 hours + a week combined). My body fat could be lower given how much I exercise, *however*, my vice is beer. I love beer and that's a lot of extra calories in a week. With respect to diet; I think anything that limits calories to a reasonable number will work, as long as one can stick to it. That's the real trick; its doing something that you can actually stick to. If you don't like steak and veggies, then you're not going to stick to that diet over the long term... I don't think its of any use to deprive yourself of the foods you like, just moderate a bit and do regular exercise. Mike
Here is a way to check. Jump in a swimming pool. If you can float you have excess body fat. If you can't float and sink to the bottom, you don't.
In regards to lifting, I dont understand why people make it so complex. To cover your body above your core all that is needed is: Push (chest shoulders) Pull (back shoulders) Throw (triceps shoulders) Lift (biceps shoulders) Doing these things a different angles should cover everything.