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165
Discussiondanny_c·

Can I see abs at 15% body fat or am I kidding myself

M28, 180cm, 79kg. Navy method says 15.2%. Waist 82cm. I can see the top two abs in good lighting if I flex. Nothing below the navel. Love handles still there.

Every chart says 15% is "abs visible". Mine are not, really. Is the Navy method lying to me, is it just where I store fat, or do I need to get to 12 and stop looking at charts?

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58
coachraf·

All three a bit.

  1. Navy method is usually 2-4% off either way. You could be 17-18.
  2. Men store the last of it on the lower belly and love handles. Upper abs show first, lower abs last. Top two at "15" is normal.
  3. The charts are for people with above average ab muscle. If you have not trained abs hard for a few years, 12% shows less than you expect.

Practical: go to a waist of 78-79cm, which is probably 3kg for you, and train abs with weight 2x a week in the meantime. Then look again. Stop reading the percentage.

14
danny_cOP·

Waist target instead of body fat target makes a lot more sense, I can actually measure that without guessing.

31
marcus_t·

I am at 88kg and 94cm waist and I have more visible upper abs than I did at 85 two years ago because I started training them with cable crunches. Fat matters most but the muscle underneath is not nothing.

12
nina_runs·

Also lighting and time of day. Morning after a low carb day vs evening after a big dinner is a 2 ab difference for me, same body.

9
yusuf.a·

Got to 76cm waist at 77kg before my lower abs showed. The top ones showed at 80cm. The gap between those two numbers was 10 weeks and it was the most boring 10 weeks of my life. Worth it, but go in knowing.