LBM question
So I was looking around to see how much muscle I could build for my height 5'5", and apparently I can only have 135lb of lean body mass according to this, does anyone else find those numbers small?
Posted May 11, 2014, 2:57 PM UTC
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You may also find this calculator helpful.
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Could you explain that calculator and what my results mean?
Not sure I understand.
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It's your maximum genetic muscle potential. Essentially how much muscle you can build without taking steroids/
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Ninja Edit: See u/GeneralTry's comment for tl;dr, who said it much more succinctly while I was typing all this shit up...
This formula, as described in the article linked by OP (formula # 3), is developed by Casey Butt, a natural bodybuilder and a Ph.D. in Controls Engineering, who came up with it for calculating muscle potential based on height, wrist size, and ankle size (genetic predisposition to maximum muscle mass). The idea is that people with larger bone structures can put on more muscle even at the same height as those with smaller bone structures.
So, if you are 6 feet tall with 9 inch wrist and 11 inch ankle and want to be at 10% body fat, you can potentially put on up to 232 pounds of total body weight (not just the lean muscle mass, as corrected by u/magnusson).
The formula is somewhat controversial and is considered to overestimate the potential of an individual for maximum muscle mass by 8-10 pounds. In the end, it is only an estimate and may differ from person to person, as the author of the article OP linked cautions and as the original article by Casey Butt indicates.
Hope this helps...
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So, if you are 6 feet tall with 9 inch wrist and 11 inch ankle and want to be at 10% body fat, you can potentially put on up to 232 pounds of lean muscle mass.
Just to be clear, 232 lbs. would be this individual's theoretical total body weight, not their lean body weight or their muscle weight.
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Oops, my mistake! Now corrected. Thank you!
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Dr. Casey Butt is the natty god. Seriously, for those beginners looking to start up a program, look into Casey Butt's beginner routine. If there's anyone that knows about weightlifting and the science behind it's Dr. Casey Butt
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Does that calculator provide accurate results for women, or only for men?
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Article does not specify, so I am not really sure. If I have to guess, I would think that it is not accurate for females.
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Fantastic. My result from the calculator was my exact fitness goal.
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135 sounds pretty average for someone your height
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I'm 5'9" so I pay attention to progress pics and such of people of similar heights and I can tell you that at around 155 - 165 lbs and 10%-12% bf, someone 5'9" looks pretty darn fit and 175 - 185 lbs at 10%-12% starts looking downright jacked. So, scaling for 5'5", no I don't think that number is totally out of line.
Ok, I was going off of these scales that measure bf and it said I was like 130 LBM when I weighted 190lbs, and now I'm down to 165 I probably lost muscle too though but I do not look big at all.
Those scales are notoriously inaccurate, I wouldn't put too much stock in what they say your LBM is. They can be good for tracking the trend (i.e. hopefully whatever number they say your bf% is goes down over time).