Have you ever wondered what the ideal body fat percentage for men is? If so, then you are definitely going to want to watch this video. In this one, I am going to discuss what I think is the ideal body fat percentage for men and whether or not that is achievable for you to get to as well as maintain that as well.
In today’s AX Jeff, Jesse and I are going to discuss a comment that was left on one of my videos regarding body fat. While the commenter seems to think that I’ve said that 6% body fat is the ideal spot to be in for men, especially in comparison to the 15% that was attributed to others, I’ve never actually stated that. I myself am extremely lean with a body fat percentage around 6 or 7%, but do I think that everyone can and should be at the same level of leanness as me? Well, no.
I understand that being as lean as Jeff Cavaliere is a goal for some, but not the goal for everyone and that’s okay. Let’s start with figuring out what your goal is and that comes with identifying whether you are looking at aesthetics, athletics / performance, strength, or in the case of Jesse; all the above.
For athletics / performance, your body fat levels should be determined by the demands of your sport. But even within the same sport, different positions will have different requirements. In the case of football, a wide receiver is going to need to be at a lower body fat percentage in order to perform at the highest level compared to an offensive lineman who is try to carry as much size as possible to prevent being run over by the defense. Depending on the sport and the position, the idea that lower body fat leads to compromised athletic performance is nonsense.
When it comes to strength, we’ve all heard the notion that you need to carry as much weight on their body as possible to move heavy weight on the bar. This often comes with a bulk and cut – adding as much size to your frame as possible to move as much weight as you can in order to grow via overload. After that, cut back down to a level of leanness that is desirable. I will tell you right now, you can still be strong without bulking. You can be lean and strong. Jesse is living proof of this with his deadlift at 550 lbs and his squat over 400 lbs while remaining fairly lean.
When it comes to aesthetics, there are 3 important things to take note of. First, is that we should be describing leanness in percentages instead of using terminology. Ripped, shredded, lean, and diced all could mean different things to different people – at least with percentages there is an objective view that all can agree on.
Second, the leaner you are, the more muscular you will appear. Lower levels of body fat will show more definition, giving the appearance of greater muscularity. Take a look at Bruce Lee, someone considered a fitness icon, and his muscularity. He was not a large individual, but he was very lean which made his muscles appear larger. If he added body fat, inversely he would be considered to be skinny.
Thirdly, while subjectivity rules here, I can safely say that 9-10% body fat percentage looks better than 15-17%. The definition and muscularity are going to be enhanced at the lower levels of body fat, creating the appearance of more muscle. If aesthetics is part of the goal, then having a lower body fat level, such as 10% is likely where you are going to want to be.
As I have said previously, body fat levels as low as mine which is in the 6-7% range, is not for everyone. In fact, I would argue that while most people can get to this level of leanness, a large percentage of people won’t be able to maintain it. Why? Our bodies have a set point at which we are able to comfortable remain at a lower body fat level. Some people simply cannot get past a certain body fat percentage and others can, but feel the side effects of it.
The idea is to find your set point; the lowest you can get to and maintain it in a healthy manner without any negative side effects. Once you find your set point, you know exactly how lean you can get and maintain year round with the proper discipline.
If you are looking for a day-by-day meal plan to go along with your workouts to help you get lean and athletic, they are included with every workout program I designed that can be found at the athlean-x website via the link below.
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That was no Rugby player you showed footage of. That was Ben Cousins, former champion Australian Rules Football player.
Also a Champion drug addict.
I think somewhere between 10-15 is solid for both strength and aesthetics
Love the channel and content, but Jeff is wrong on this "when it comes to aesthetics, 10% looks better than 15" thing. I'm sure this is true for fitness folks and gym rats, but when the average Joe is concerned about "aesthetics", he's looking for what majority of women want. 15%'ish…if you had to be 5 over or under, I'd agree that 10 is better than 20.
If I could make wish and get/maintain 15% or Jeff's (without consequence), I'd still take the latter. Think his view is a little biased/distorted.
Nice nod to the Australian Football League (AFL). Not Rugby 🙂
Ooohhhh, referring to rugby and then showing Aussie Rules Football is enough to get you banned form entering Australia 🙂
The lean AFL (not rugby) player you showed as an example was using cocaine and crack during his peak performance years.
Jesse is no joke man
Ben Cousins on Athlean-X!
In my experience as an athlete and working out in gyms and calisthenics later on, a single digit percent of body fat of just below 10%. Aka around 9%, is probably the best and most achievable that you can actually accomplish without PEDs, just by being disciplined and consistent through the years.
9% to 9,5% is a percentage that will make you look incredible if you carry a decent amount of muscle mass. It will also never negatively affect your libido/strength etc as long as you live a healthy lifestyle (diet/sleep/etc).
I would like to see you're omega 3 index at 6% body fat. I bet it's not ideal
1:53 there's no such thing, Sigma is a cope to negotiate desire and it isn't going to work. One day you could be alpha, Jesse, but you gotta clean up that mindset
3:39 That's Aussie Rules footy, not rugby
Rugby my ass! that's Aussie rules footy mf!
All these pro- athletes are PED'd to the gills.
Just a little error in the vid that doesn't mean anything really, but when you said "Rugby player" you showed Australian Football League (AFL). I'm not nitpicking you're nitpicking…
Amen to health over ascetics. Too much of the 'fitness' industry is focused on sacrificing health in pursuit of leanness. If you can maintain extremely low bodyfat without damaging your health and/or being miserable 24/7 then obviously have at it, but I think it's unhealthy the way men are portrayed in movies and on fitness magazine covers where they've starved themself down for months, then dehydrated themselves for two days to be on deaths door and shredded as possible for 30 mins. This unsustainable state is then immortalized in a photograph and passed of as 'normal'. (Jeff, I'm not including you in that — you're obviously just lean all the time). The Women's health/fitness industry seems to have somewhat progressed beyond normalizing being as skinny as possible at the expense of health, but us men are probably 20 years behind. My body seems to wants not to go below 15%. Then again i spent most of my life at 25% so I'm acclimating at ~15% for a while before trying to go any lower.
It's widely considered that almost everyone can achieve and maintain a bodyfat level of between 12 and 15%. Not accounting for health issues etc, most people just are too lazy and/or don't understand how to get there. Personally I blame western culture and our education system in primary/secondary school for this. Nowadays it's considered healthy and okay to be obese and it's even glorified and so the goalposts to what people consider to be achievable has moved significantly over the years.
You mean AUSSIE RULES. Not rugby
I competed in drug free bodybuilding for seven years and always got to 4% body fat and it sucks. Anything below about 8 makes you miserable, low libido and your strength drops off, I now walk around between 10-12% and still make gains without looking like I’m dying and wearing a bigger man’s else’s clothes.
he called footy (AFL) rugby lol. Jeff comeon Bruh
Every man should be between 10% – 20% body fat, once you go outside of that range your health and performance starts to get impacted.
yeah benny cousins, what a unit
Going on a whole food vegan diet made getting in that shredded/lean range so easy for me. Not to mention, I don’t feel any of the negative side effects of being shredded. I still have my sex drive, everything I eat contains carbohydrates, I kept my strength and I’m getting all the nutrients I need.
I’m not being preachy, that isn’t my style. People can do whatever they like. I just look at people saying they struggle to get shredded and can’t help but think ‘if only they knew’ 😅💪🌱
I'm not big enough to be that lean. I got down to about 12% and just looked skinny
Is this level of bodyfat optimal for goid hormone levels or any other healrh issues? Since im neither modeling or competing in any sport i would only bother about being this low in body fat if i knew it would benefit my health.
I train judo just for fun and have noticed that when i get really low in body fat i usually start losing in sparring against guys i usually can defeat.
And its nice to have some stored calories in a SHTF-scenario.
AUSSIE RULES not F%#King RUGBY .