Every year the #1 most declared New Year’s Resolution has to do with Fitness or getting in better shape. But why is it that every year the majority of people have the same resolutions? We've almost got 2 months under our belts now... how are you doing?
Fitness experts and even psychologists would argue that it’s due to making lofty goals with unrealistic expectations and no room for error. If you’re a guy looking to get leaner and build muscle your primary motivation may be the scale. A more important measure of your level of fitness (and more accurate) would be a measure of your Body Fat. Since averages and “normal” ranges aren’t entire applicable to everyone, having a visual for body fat percentage men might be a little bit more helpful. Check out the Body Fat Chart Here
Your body fat percentage is the amount of body fat you carry in relation to your total weight. If you weight 200 lbs with a body fat percentage of 20% that means you’re carrying around 40 pounds of body fat. To determine you’re body fat percentage you can have a Personal Trainer perform a body calipers test or you can buy a body fat scale or electronic monitor. (I’ll go into a review of those in a later post).
It’s important that you have realistic expectations from your New Year’s Resolution. While we may see pictures of shredded models as motivation, you shouldn’t be comparing yourself to this. Monitor your progress based on your starting point, not pictures of “ideal” body types.
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Essential Fat : The minimum amount of body fat necessary for basic physiological health.
Athletes: High performance athletes will fall into this range. The “shredded up” underwear models will fall into this range as well.
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Fitness: The average gym goer with an active lifestyle and healthy eating habits will be in this category.
Average: Those that don’t regularly workout with a high level of intensity, or the weekend warriors tend to have an average body fat %.
Obese: Sedentary lifestyle, little to no activity and a poor diet are likely the factors that put you into this category.