A middle-aged (40s) family member of mine has been going to the gym a lot lately. We (his family) are all telling him that he looks perfectly fine and that his physique is consistent with fitness and good health.
This individual feels that he has a bit of a gut hanging over his belt and would like to get rid of it. He has a fantasy (perhaps driven by a mid-life crisis) of having six-pack abs.
Is it safe for a middle-aged man to get down to the body fat percentage necessary for a six-pack? Is there any health benefit? Or is it pure vanity?
I know 40’s is about half of 80’s but it isn’t considered middle aged. Six pack abs comes from diet and exercise, nothing wrong with that at about any age. It is healthier to be in shape than out of shape and if that is driven by vanity, it still works. Why would you not want him to go to the gym? I would vote to encourage him rather than discourage him.
I had a flatmate who was convinced that 8-pack abs was attainable. He only ate lean turkey and vegetables, to the point that he looked pale. I say that’s definitely a stopping point!
I would say: watch out for how realistic his self image is. If he thinks he is monstrously fat when he clearly isn’t, that’s a clear sign of a problem. If other things suffer because he wants a 6-pack, that might be a problem. If his habits become unhealthy and he looks bad, that’s a problem. Until then, it sounds harmless to me.
Abs start to show at around 10-12% (of bodyweight)body fat. Essential fat for a man is around 3%. A typical Olympic athlete (track, field event athletes will vary more) will carry around 7% more or less.
ETA: It depends more on how you reach that goal. Loading up on steroids, herbal supplements and fat-burners along with a starvation diet is not the way to go.
He is probably fine, but I know I had a brief fling with anorexia and didn’t even realize it. I was in my mid 30’s and took on a very physicaly demanding job. I cut my diet down to one sandwich and a glass of milk per day, and I was doing like 3 times the work of everyone else for the excersize pushing myself like a mad man. All I could see was that I still had a gut. I was 20# below my inshape weight of 165# and looking at photos I was skinny. I changed jobs and went right back to normal. A friend suggested I had become addicted to the endorfins of starvation and excersize.
Well that’s part of the problem. This man’s abs do seem to show, but he claims to have a body fat percentage of around 20%. He also claims that his BMI is borderline overweight.
So we are concerned that he sees himself as being fatter than he really is.
Maybe it would help if I asked him for a pic with his face blacked out and posted it here.
Assuming you do NOT have a genetic predisposition to carry little abdominal body fat along with a fast metabolism you can still get there, but saying there “comfortably” (in your 40’s) requires eating very lean, watching your diet like a hawk and a pretty rigorous workout schedule. This can be “healthy”, but it is very difficult to maintain.
Even pro bodybuilders don’t want to stay that lean all the time as it is physically uncomfortable for many people to be at very low body fat levels.
From your brief description, it sounds like he is just trying to make himself healthier. If he has a bit of a gut hanging over his belt, then he’s likely overweight and it would be good for him to trim down. Unless you have some actual knowledge that he’s harming himself, he could probably use your encouragement to become healthier.
The fantasy of six-pack abs is far from the reality of actually getting them. It would take a lot of effort to get them and maintain them at his age. Likely. it’s just a motivating goal which guides him to become healthier. And if he does obtain them, great for him!
I wonder if you maybe have a skewed view of what proper weight looks like? It’s sometimes common for people at recommended weight to look skinny. Our society has gotten used to XL-sizes and we view that as healthy, when really the healthier weight would be several pounds less.
Here’s a page with various height/weight pictures. Go to the row that corresponds to his height and find a picture which most closely matches his body and post the link here. http://www.cockeyed.com/photos/bodies/heightweight.html
Yes, I have wondered about this question myself. Your typical middle-aged American man has a bit of a gut – or more. It’s so common that quite possibly I am subconsciously assuming that’s what’s normal (in the sense of ideal) for a man in his 40s.
Based on the body fat chart I posted above his personal body fat estimate seems pretty accurate. 20 to mid high teens. Why don’t you send him the chart.
He’s in the 10% range. That’s just how I looked at 50-55 miles/week running and 9.5% BF. I even had the same spare tire.
In college, I was running 70-85 miles/week, 7% BF and had a (bicycle) spare tire.
But that picture tells me he is in the mid to high teens for body fat. That is perfectly fine and safe. He can probably shed 10 pounds or so of fat and be fine.
However weight and BMI are both terrible indicators of health for highly fit individuals. He clearly has enough muscle to make BMI useless. He is at an age where he should likely be getting annual checkups anyway. Encourage him to see his doctor and work on reasonable goals. If he is willing to put the time and money into this that he is likely doing, he should be willing to go see a professional.
While that may play a role, it’s not the primary reason most bodybuilders don’t stay in or near contest shape year-round. The primary reason is because being at single-digit bodyfat levels is not conducive to building muscle mass; which is the goal during the off-season. While it’s also not conducive to anabolism to blow up like a fat-ass during the offseason, it is beneficial to have a certain degree of bodyfat. Around 10-12% (some say as high as 15%) is considered ideal for anabolic (muscle-building) gains. If a bodybuilder (especially pro) even suspected that staying in contest shape year-round would give him/her even the slightest edge, trust me, uncomfortable or not, they’d be doing it in a heartbeat. {hijack over}
That is a pretty cool site. I think it’s funny how some slots have 6 or 7 people in them, and others are still totally empty. Nice distribution graph, in addition to size and weight.