Question about bodyfat and strength

[timsen]

Hi guys, love this site and learn alot of things.

I just have something ive been wondering about...I'm 5.10" at 140 lbs. 6.9% bodyfat. I know doing calisthenics and gymnastics its beneficial with a low bodyfat so my goal has been 6% bf. I went from 166 lbs 13% bf down to now 140 lbs 6.9% very slow for about 8 months.

But as of three weeks ago ive noticed that my strength has been going downhill faster than usual, so im wondering if its worth going down to 6% or should i just reverse the diet with a clean bulk and start focusing on getting stronger?

Also, ive noticed at between 7% and 8% my joints definitely got more tender, slight aches in knees, shoulder, elbow. Is that normal when getting lower bodyfat?

Thanks guys and hope you all had a good memorial weekend

Edited May 26, 2015 by timsen

[Tom Bol]

Timsen out of interest (and not to derail your thread) what is your diet like?

[Jason Dupree]

Your lean mass at 166: 145.

Your lean mass at 140: 130.

That's a loss of roughly 15 pounds of muscle. Lean mass is everything but fat tissue. That is why your strength is going down. I think your diet wouldn't be derailing the thread, that would be the first place to look. I've heard the aches are normal, but I believe that is due to the way most people get down that low, with a poor diet. I'm at 6% according to skinfolds, and my joints feel great.

[timsen]

Thanks for replies. My nutrition diet hasnt been that poor, but not great eaither. Macros has been on point thoigh. Always 1 g protein / lbs bodyweight and 0.5 g fat / lbs bodyweight and I play around with carbs to maintain a loss of 1 lbs bodyweight / week.

Thats amazing. Seems hard for me to get down the last bit to 6%, Last few weeks is the first time I look kinda the same but a smaller version.

Damn havn't looked at it that way, so pretty safe to say stop the weight loss and focus on aquiring strength?

Thanks for reply

[Jason Dupree]

That seems like an ok start. Since you can get your body fat percentage, start looking at lean mass and fat mass, instead of the scale. So for 140 lbs, multiply by body fat (140x.069) to get 9.66 lbs of fat mass. Subtract that from 140 to get lean mass of about 130. If you continue to lose weight, make sure the lean mass stays the same or goes up. If you try gaining weight, make sure your lean mass is actually going up and it's not all fat. What are your total calories now? As a rough estimate, your maintenance calories are around 2400. You can dial it in based on changes in weight and body comp. I would bet that you've been eating much less no?

I would focus on getting stronger, and giving your body the fuel it needs.

[timsen]

Thanks, I really appreciate your help Jason, it means a lot!

 

That's very interesting, I will definitely from now on start looking at it from a lean and fat mass point of view.

 

You're right, at the moment I'm cutting at 1900. But when I first started the cut believe it or not, I was actually cutting at 3500 calories and I lost weight on that. Metabolism was crazy high at the time (I'm an ectomorph). After that during my ~ 8 month cut, I've gradually lowered it to at now 1900 calories. So its been a pretty consistent weight drop of 1 lbs. / week.

 

That's what I'm thinking too, I'm doubting if its worth for me to push the body down to 6% at this cut (maybe next time I go on a cut?), considering my strength to weight ratio has not been improving at all since about the last 3 weeks.

 

Thanks for all your help

[Jason Dupree]

Definitely not worth it if it's causing you to get weaker