Body Fat Percentage

If you’re serious about your cycling you probably care about your body fat percentage for the simple reason that the less fat you’re carrying around, the greater your power to weight ratio will be.

Body fat percentage is an estimate of the fraction of the total body mass that is adipose tissue (or referred to as Fat Mass), as opposed to lean body mass (muscle, bone, organ tissue, blood, and everything else) or referred to as Fat Free Mass. This index is often used as a means to monitor progress during a diet or as a measure of physical fitness for certain sports. It is more accurate as a measure of excess body weight than body mass index (BMI) since it differentiates between the weight of muscle mass and that of the fat mass while BMI lump all masses into one figure. However, its popularity is less than BMI because equipment required to perform the body fat percentage is not readily available and skills are required to perform the measurement. Even when measured by a skillful person, there are factors that contribute to a significant margin of error.

Total body fat percentage consists of essential fat and storage fat. Essential fat is that amount necessary for maintenance of life and reproductive functions. The percentage for women is greater than that for men, due to the demands of childbearing and other hormonal functions. Essential fat is 2-5% in men, and 10-13% in women. Storage fat consists of fat accumulation in adipose tissue, part of which protects internal organs in the chest and abdomen. The minimum recommended total body fat percentage exceeds the essential fat percentage value reported above.

NIH/WHO guidelines categorize ranges of body fat percentages as follows with age represented on the left hand vertical axis.

Women

Men

There are a number of ways to calulate % body fat. While a BIA (Bioelectrical impedance analysis) or other method will be more accurate, we don’t all have a machine handy (try your gym). The Cycling-Secrets Software provides a calculator that uses the Height and Circumference method used by developed by the U.S. Navy

This method compares abdomen or waist and hips measurements to neck measurement and height.

The formula for the calulation was developed from statistical data and as such has some potential inaccuracy. In general using one method of calculation consistently will provide useful relative data over time. Don’t hold your stomach in or flare your neck out while taking the measurement, you’ll only be cheating yourself

You can use the cycling software available on this site to calculate and track your body fat percentage. The Body Fat calculator can be accessed through the Health Details dialogue box. Either open this through the Add Menu or double click of a calendar date in the Health Calendar.