Rihad's log

Got my body fat caliper today. Measured my suprailiac skin-fold, approx. 1 inch above hip bones. Left side around 18, right side 20. Got same results consistently over several attempts. By the chart and considering my age I'm somewhere between ideal and average, which is a lie, of course :) So it must be my stomach and/or guts contributing to the somewhat big "4 months into pregnancy" type of belly.
 
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Here's the chart.

caliper.jpg

Oops, I didn't read the fine print and didn't find the intersection.
Age 31-35, measurement: 18-19 (left side), 20-21 (right side).
So my true bf is 22.1% for the right side, and 20.7% for the left.
It's a cross between ideal & average.
 
See what's interesting. If I press it all the way, I get different results: 12 for the left, 16 for the right which ends up on the chart as 15.7% and 19.2%, respectively.
 
Don't measure it that way. Go to http://www.linear-software.com/online.html

Do the chest, ab and thigh skinfold, only press the calipers until they click but make sure you are pinching the ab fold properly, it should not be a comfortable pinch, you need to pinch up the entire fat layer. They have instructions and everything on that site. That will give you a percentage. Tell us your fold measurements and what percentage the calculator gives you.
 
Thanks. I couldn't grab the one inch to the right of my navel vertically for the ab measurement, so I measured suprailiac instead.

Chest: 2
Thigh: 2
Suprailiac (failed to measure ab): 12 (now measured correctly as per the video).

So the measurement is a bit flawed:


  • Body Fat 4.83%:

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I could hardly pinch chest & thigh. I'm telling you, most of my fat is in the stomach midsection.
 
Well obviously that's not accurate if you measured a different site than the three you are supposed to, so you basically just wasted your time doing it.
 
Why are you measuring your BF? Do you want to make progress? If not, stop measuring and stop posting. If so, be honest with yourself and measure properly and post honestly; otherwise you are wasting your time and ours. If you are concerned about measuring your BF% it is likely because you are not currently ripped/chiseled/etc, right? Since you are not currently ripped/chiseled/etc, a 2mm measurement for chest and thigh simply means that you didn't measure the skin fold properly, period. If you are unable to measure the abdominal fold, it is also because you are doing something wrong; OR, your skin fold there is too large for your caliper to accomodate.

You need to follow the measurement protocols properly or else the results will be way off (as in your case here), especially if you are using the JP 3 site protocol. Fewer sites means even minor measurement errors will have a more dramatic impact on the final results.

When "pinching" you need to ensure the pinched area's muscle is relaxed, have your fingers about 2 inches apart and press them deep into the measurement area, press as hard as you can... it should hurt and you may have bruises when done. You should first pinch well into the muscle and as you pinch harder and harder you will feel the skin and fat layers sorta separate from the muscle. Again, this hurts, but it's what you need to do to get accurate results. As you get more experienced doing it properly, you won't need to pinch quite as hard to get the "feel" for where the muscle ends and the skin/fat begin.

Maybe if you post some pictures of you taking your skinfold measurements we can tell you what you're doing wrong, because you are doing something wrong.

If you continue insisting that your body type and/or body fat distribution are somehow so unique that the bf% measurement protocols that work for 99.9999% of the world's population simply don't work for you, then stop, we can't help you and you can't help you... Stop measuring, stop posting measurements... you are wasting your time and ours. I suggest you submit your body to science so maybe a new protocol can be developed for just you. Good luck.
 
The instructions coming with the calipers to measure suprailliac suit me better than JP/3 because I'm having trouble pinching the ab fold. So I'll be using them for now.
 
nativetroutbum said:
Ok, then your results will not be accurate... so what's the point? You can't use the suprailliac site and the JP 3 site protocol.
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I won't be using JP/3 for now. I just shared my unsuccessful experience with it. The bundled instructions will do fine to track any changes, and they have their own protocol.
 
WHat exactly are you doing in your training? It would be interesting to see your actual workout logs, so I can understand your approach to training. The theoretical discussions are hard to follow, its easier to just track your training log. Please post a few training sessions...exercises, sets, reps, weight used..etc.
 
Fair enough. I was going to post about my first 5's workout tomorrow. My exercise selection is based on vanilla HST, but no squats for now, and no dips.

My last & previous to last w/o, in that order:
Leg press 190 kg (419 lb) x10x2
Incline bench 62 kg (137 lb) x10x2
Leg curls 10 bricks x10x2
Block rows 64 kg (141 lb) x10,5
Lying 1-arm rear delts 7.5 kg (16 lb) x 10x2
BB shrugs 82 kg (180 lb) x 10x2
BB curls 37 (81 lb) x10, 37x6+30(66 lb)x4 drop set
Triceps block extensions 11 bricks x 10,8
Calves BW+50 kg (110 lb) x 18x2

Leg press 180 kg (397 lb) x10x2
Incline bench 60 kg (132 lb) x10x2
Leg curls 10 bricks x10x2
Pull-ups BW x10, 6
Lying 1-arm rear delts 7.5 (16 lb) kg x 10x2
BB shrugs 77 kg (170 lb) x 10x2
BB curls 35 kg (77 lb) x10, 6
Triceps block extensions 11 bricks x 10,7
Calves BW+48 kg (106 lb) x 18x2

Tomorrow I'll mostly repeat previous loads (zig-zag):
Leg press 190 kg (419 lb) x5x4
Incline bench 62 kg (137 lb) x5x4
Leg curls 10 bricks x5x4
Pull-ups BW+2.5kg (5.5 lb) x5x3
Lying 1-arm rear delts 7.5 kg (16 lb) x 5x4
BB shrugs 82 kg (180 lb) x 5x4
BB curls 35 kg (77 lb) x5x (3 or 4)
Triceps block extensions 11 bricks x 5x4
Calves BW+60 kg (132 lb) x 15x2

I will drop volume to 3 sets after first couple of workouts, but won't try to go below that during 4 weeks of 5's. Might throw in an extra 2-3 workouts in the end, dropping volume to 1-2 sets for the sake of more load depending on how I feel.
 
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Did my first "higher-volume" workout today by mostly repeating previous loads (except for pull-ups and calves).
Bis & tris extensions didn't feel at all easier, probably because I worked close to my RMs on Friday.
Leg press 190 kg (419 lb) x5x4
Incline bench 62 kg (137 lb) x5x4
Leg curls 9 bricks x5x4
Pull-ups BW+2.5kg (5.5 lb) x5x3
Lying 1-arm rear delts 7.5 kg (16 lb) x 5x4
BB shrugs 82 kg (180 lb) x 5x4
BB curls 35 kg (77 lb) x5x4
Triceps block extensions 10 bricks x 5x4
Calves BW+60 kg (132 lb) x 15x2

Good so far.
 
Today was my third 5's workout:

Leg press 210 kg (463 lb) x5x3
Incline bench 67 kg (147 lb) x5x3
Leg curls 11 bricks x5x4
Pull-ups BW+5kg (11 lb) x5x3
Lying 1-arm rear delts 8.5 kg (18 lb) x 6x2*
BB shrugs 87 kg (192 lb) x 5x3
BB curls 40 kg (88 lb) x5,5,4+1c **
Triceps block extensions 11 bricks x 6x2*
Calves BW+66 kg (145 lb) x 15x2

Marks:
*: will go for increasing reps to about 12 in two sets before adding more load.
**: 4+1c means 4 reps + 1 w/ cheating. BB curls cheating probably doesn't strain CNS as much, but it doesn't count as completing 3x5/3' so I'll be repeating this load.

Overall I'm feeling good. I'll write about my last 5RM workout next Friday, unless something unexpected happens & necessitates writing about it earlier.
 
Cheating for BB curls specifically isn't going to strain, but it's a high risk of injury action for almost zero gain (if not actually zero). Bicep curls place the biceps under extremely low strain, relative to chins/pulls, rows and deads/SLDLs and there's very little reason to progress to '5RM' to do them, especially as your 5RM and 8RM (for example) are going to be minimally separated.

I wouldn't bother cheating for that exercise, I think you'd do much better to do a 120% of 1RM negative, squatting or 'high pulling' the BB back up to the rack to reset the position.
 
AlexAustralia said:
Cheating for BB curls specifically isn't going to strain, but it's a high risk of injury action for almost zero gain (if not actually zero).
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Oops, I forgot to mention that I'm not cheating simply for the sake of cheating, but for controlled 2-3 sec. lowering, which on a decently fatigued muscle might be rather good than bad.

Bicep curls place the biceps under extremely low strain, relative to chins/pulls, rows and deads/SLDLs and there's very little reason to progress to '5RM' to do them, especially as your 5RM and 8RM (for example) are going to be minimally separated.
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Frankly I'm doing this because when we were 16-17 and as we were walking on the street, I remember my friend betting another guy he could curl 50 kg (110 lb) and the other guy could not, so we went to a gym nearby and he curled 50 kg twice with absolutely no warmup (and the other guy couldn't even start it moving), so it's been an obsession for me to become that strong in BB curls.

I'm still noticing gaining in my arm size, I don't know if it's due to pulling or pressing compound motions, or tris + bis isos, but over time (after I get to 50 kg probably :)) I might feel the need to increase rep ranges used for isos, and do the heavy lower rep work on compound lifts.

I wouldn't bother cheating for that exercise, I think you'd do much better to do a 120% of 1RM negative, squatting or 'high pulling' the BB back up to the rack to reset the position.
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Doing negatives in pull-ups is one of my greatest wishes, I would start from the recommended 2RM loads and see where I go from there. The problem is it's kind of difficult to find something to stand on to help me lift myself (since I'm training alone).
 
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No no, I mean negatives for BB curls.


And again, don't do pseudo-negatives with loads below 1RM. Do them with loads you can't perform the concentric part of the repetition for. Just trust me on this one.
 
AlexAustralia said:
No no, I mean negatives for BB curls.
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I've done this, as BB curls are pretty easy to cheat my way up by first swinging the bar and using its momentum force (I'm using a tight belt to give my lower back some assistance), and do the slow lowering. 45kg/99lb x 4 is my max (maybe not my real max but my max considering prior rowing/pull-up exercises), but I can do 50kg/110lb x 6 negatives.

And again, don't do pseudo-negatives with loads below 1RM. Do them with loads you can't perform the concentric part of the repetition for. Just trust me on this one.
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It's logical that as one progresses the load in negatives he will get below 1RM eventually. So I could do 45x4, and on next w/o go 47x6-8 negatives, then 50x6-8, 52x6-8, etc... Stop where I can no longer control the weight on descent for all planned reps.
 
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