Originally Posted by
sprince
Seriously hitting the weights? No, hardly at all, I was quite thin.
Using this
http://www.naturalphysiques.com/28/f...ass-index-ffmi and inputting some high and low weights over the years, I come up with a range of 23.3-27.4. Taken at face value, I've been near the range of pre-steroid Mr Olympias, pro football players and well into the steroids only zone? [insert laughing my _______ ___ off emoticon] That tells me this myth is busted.
I did find a few BMI calculators that take into account bone measurement, usually with a wrist measurement. Using those I do get slightly more credible results. I think FFMI has the same problem that BMI has, actual humans, as opposed to idealized from averages humans, have a very wide variation in bone size and density. The result being that those nearer the extremes get exponentially skewed results.
There is variation, but it is not wide. Here's a table with percentile values from a research paper:
Basically, 50% of men are between 18 and 20, and 90% of men are between 17 and 22. And that includes the variation in the amount of exercise and dieting.
(Note: this is a chart for a European population. Americans would have much wider variation on the second metric, "fat mass index". In the chart, 95th percentile by fat mass index for men is around 7. In the US, that would be 75th percentile, and 95th percentile would be closer to 15.)
What were the numbers you put in that gave you the FFMI of 27?
P.S. There's one article that says that African Americans average about 1 point higher than whites and Asians average 2 points lower than whites.
Also, I meant "Mr. America", not "Mr. Olympia". ("Mr. Olympia" was created after steroids were already commonplace.)
Even the visual difference between competitive bodybuilders in 1950's and today is staggering.
This is what FFMI 25 looks like: (1943 Mr. America, 5'7"/175)
26 (1950 Mr America, 5'9"/195)
http://perlbal.hi-pi.com/blog-images...1262597370.jpg
28 (1975 Mr America, 5'8"/200)
.jpg)
33 (2011-13 Mr Olympia, 5'9"/245)
37 (2006-10 Mr Olympia, 5'9"/275)
