DEXA Body Fat Testing, Physique Standards & The #1 Mistake of Top Fitness Models

I decided to get my body fat tested with the most accurate device known to man. The DEXA scan. This device uses Dual X-rays to measure your bone mass, fat mass and lean body mass. What’s amazing about the DEXA scan is that not only does it show you your body fat…

It also tells you exactly how your fat is distributed throughout your entire body. This is cool because you can determine where you store most of your fat.

You’ll also learn how your muscle is distributed throughout your body and if you have even development on your left and right sides. Finally, you’ll get a clear picture of how dense your bones are, among other interesting pieces of data.

It’s a very fascinating test, altogether it probably took around 30 minutes and the total cost was 125 dollars Canadian. This is definitely something that I would consider doing a few times per year for fun and to see an exact blueprint of how my body is progressing.

What Is My Preferred Way Of Tracking Body Composition?

My go to method for tracking body composition includes taking pictures, weighing myself and measuring my waist, chest, arms… This has been very useful because I can see if I’m dropping fat (waist goes down) and if I’m building muscle (chest and arms go up).

That said, this approach, while still very effective and useful, isn’t quite as exact as the DEXA scan. For example, you could be dropping some fat with little to no change in your waist measurement.

This can happen if you’re predominately losing fat in other areas of your body (legs, arms, chest, butt, back). As well, you could be dropping fat, while maintaining muscle, but your chest and arm measurements might be going down. Does this mean you’re losing muscle? Not necessarily.

You could actually be maintaining all your muscle, but losing fat in your torso and arms, thus making the measurements smaller.

Now that’s not to say measurements don’t matter! Of course they do. If you have solid measurements, you’re going to look phenomenal.

How Good Is The Dexa Scan For Measuring Body Fat %?

That said, if you are going for maximum accuracy and if you want a full blueprint into your body, then DEXA is the way to go.

I’m excited to get tested again in 3-6 months and see how my body fat and muscle development changes. If I gain muscle, it will be cool to see exactly where that muscle went (arms, legs or trunk and in what amount). If I lose fat I’ll get to see exactly where the fat dropped.

Oh yeah and if I decide to be lazy as hell and workout just 1-2 times per week, I can see if I maintained all of my muscle or if I lost muscle. This is some really state of the art data!

Now make no mistake, knowing all this information isn’t necessary to build a better body. And frankly, if there’s room for improvement, the camera won’t lie to you.

But, the DEXA just takes things to a much, much, deeper level! So I thought I would share my test results with you :)

How Did I Look The Day Before the Test?

The day before the test I snapped these pictures and posted them to my Kinobody Facebook page. I got people to guess my body fat. Altogether there was a huge range. Some people said 6-7% body fat, others said 8%, some people said 10-12% body fat and someone even said 17% haha and he was dead serious (I playfully tease this guy in the ensuing video).

To be fair, the DEXA scan is the least forgiving of all body fat tests! It’s not uncommon for a guy with totally ripped abs to score 10-12% body fat. This is actually why I was very nervous about doing a DEXA scan.

Ultimately, if you have the look you want, it doesn’t matter if you’re 6% body fat or 12%. That said, I liked the idea of being single digit, it sounded cool. So I really wanted to fall in the 7-9% body fat range.

Now without further ado….. Here is the entire video documentary of me getting my body fat tested. It’s about 12 minutes long, and if you enjoy it, make sure to share it with your friends, like the video, and subscribe to my channel :)

The DEXA Scan Body Fat Documentary

 

What Were The Results Of My Test?

My Body Fat

8.1% of my tissue is composed of body fat (not including bone). Now that isn’t my actual body fat percentage since that number doesn’t include my bone mass.

My actual body fat, taking into account bone mass, is an extremely lean 7.7% body fat at a bodyweight of 178.3 lbs.

This is because I’m carrying 13.8 lbs of body fat at a weight of 178.3 lbs. Your fat mass divided by total body mass = body fat percentage.

13.8 lbs divided by 178.3 lbs = 7.7% body fat.

My Lean Body mass 

My lean body mass is also a very high 164.5 lbs for my stature (5’10 or 177cm). In fact, this is at the top end of my maximum muscular potential. Simply put, as a natural lifter, I don’t have much room for more muscle growth (without turning to steroids, yah, no thank you)

At low levels of body fat, there’s harsh limits to how much muscle you can carry naturally. If you see someone who is 200+ lbs and shredded, invariably, they’re using some type of gear (unless they’re 6’2+).

My results are actually quite remarkable because for the last few months I’ve been following my Aggressive Fat Loss program. I’ve been going quite low in protein (120-140g per day on average) and lifting just 2-3x per week. Oh yeah and eating lots of chipotle, chocolate and potatoes baby!

People often think that building an incredible physique naturally is such hard work! Well I’m pleased to say that I’ve really cracked the code.

My latest courses for building muscle is 

Superhero Bulking Program

My latest course for dropping fat (and the program I’m following now) is 

Aggressive Fat Loss 2.0

My course for the womenz is

Goddess Toning Program

My Measurements 

At 5’10 tall, 178.3 lbs and 7.7% body fat, I’m rocking the following measurements:

Waist – 31.25-31.5″

Chest – 43.5-44″

Arms – 16″ Flexed (no pump)

This is quite simply fantastic! I could work towards getting my waist down to 31″ to get super shredded…. Or I could focus on filling out my chest and arms some more.

But what would be the point? I already have the look I want. Getting leaner or bigger at this point, isn’t going to make me look any sexier for da ladies… Nor would I look better in clothes.

And frankly, I dig the way my body looks now, I have great muscle development and I’ve got amazing v line abs. I think I’d look ridiculous if I was carrying a lot more muscle.

This Is The Mistake That Top Fitness Models Make

I think a huge mistake a lot of the best natural fitness models have made is that they get to a point where they look really good! But it’s never enough for them and they want to keep growing (past their natural limits).

‘Naturally’ they grow frustrated, impatient and expectantly, turn to drug use. And they trade their great looking, natural physique for a drugged up body that, frankly, has about as much sex appeal as a shirtless Seth Rogan ;)

I refuse to make that mistake. I refuse to chase the idea that more is better. I understand completely that fulfillment, success and happiness don’t lie in the land of more muscle and less body fat.

Yeah I Just Got Really Deep #sorrynotsorry

My plan is to enjoy my physique that I have built. I’m not going to obsess about building more muscle or getting more shredded. Simply, I’m going to have fun eating great meals and kicking butt in the gym a couple days per week.

Besides, I have the look I want and my measurements are pretty much bang on based on my post called, The Perfect Male Body and Five Exercises To Build It.

Achieving the Kinobody measurements would put you somewhere around the Greek God / Superhero Physique with about 8% body fat.

Trying to go beyond this and surpass these measurements would actually make you look overdone and compromise sex appeal, interestingly enough.

What Is The Ideal Body Fat Percentage?

Many of you are probably thinking what is the ideal body fat percentage for a great looking physique. I’d say anywhere between 6-10% body fat for maximum aesthetics. Let’s break them down:

Cut – 9-10% body fat

9-10% body fat is a good looking level of leanness. And generally speaking, people will consider you to be in great shape. That’s also precisely when your body and face will take on a much leaner and more angular look.

Over 10% body fat and a lot of your muscle will be blurred from fat. The quickest way to look amazing is to get your body fat to 10% or less. I see a ton of guys hanging out in the 12-15% body fat territory with a good amount of muscle. That said, they still only look decent because they are carrying too much fat.

Chiseled – 8% Body Fat

8% body fat is really the bench mark for the hollywood physique. That’s where you’ll have very visible muscle definition, slim waist and chiseled face. Not to mention, at this body fat percentage, your abs pop and look down right amazing. But leaning down isn’t always enough to reveal an amazing six pack, you have to incorporate some type of v line abs workout into your routine, to really develop a great and powerful core.

If you follow the Kinobody protocol of fasting, training three days per week and hitting a good balance of proteins, fats and carbs from satiating foods, you’ll be able to stay extremely satisfied and maintain a high sex drive and solid social life at 8% body fat.

Shredded – 6-7% body fat

Getting to 6-7% body fat is where you’ll look amazing for photoshoots and on video. It’s very low and probably not somewhere that you want to be all year round. As well, testosterone, training performance and muscle building potential may be comprised at the 6-7% mark.

Below 6% body fat is not healthy and it looks completely overdone. Girls, generally, hate that freakish look of excessive veins and muscle striations that come from being under 6% body fat.

How Much Do You Need To Lose To Drop 1% Body Fat?

This is a question I get a fair bit. Someone is 20% body fat and they want to get down to 10% body fat. So then the natural question becomes, how much fat do they have to lose. Well let’s say they are 180 lbs.

That’s about 1.8 lbs of fat loss for one percentage point. Since 1.8 lbs represents 1% of your bodyweight. So to drop from 20% to 10% body fat, this person would have to lose approximately 18 lbs of fat.

If you’re 150 lbs, to drop 1% body fat, you’d have to drop 1.5 lbs of fat. And if you’re 300 lbs, you ‘d have to drop 3 lbs of fat to lose 1 percent body fat.

Smaller people usually complain it’s harder to lose weight since they have to eat less. While that may be true, smaller people don’t have to lose as much fat to reduce their body fat percentage to the same degree. (Nor do they have the appetite of larger people, typically) .

So it balances out in a way! Now this formula isn’t 100% exact, but it’s fairly close. But typically, most guys, dropping 1 percent body fat represents around 1.5-2 lbs of fat loss.

What’s The Best Move For You To Get The Physique You Want?

Hope you guys enjoyed this article and video documentary! If you want to show someone what a true 8% body fat is then share it along :).