Over the past couple years I’ve had multiple DEXA scans done to get an idea of how my diet and training affects my body composition. A DEXA is a machine that takes a detailed scan/image of the body and can tell you how much bodyfat you have compared to lean mass, and it can even tell you where the body fat is.
It gives an accurate picture of the distribution of fat from upper body to lower body, and even from left to right side. It shows how much fat you carry in your abdominal area compared to your hips/butt area as well as legs and upper body.
So if you want to see just what you’re made of you might want to check around and see if you can get yourself scanned.
I’ve taken many different people to get scanned and I can tell you that two people at the same overall bodyfat % can look very different. The difference in look stems from the different ways each person stores fat. In other words, 15% bodyfat can look totally different on different people.
The only thing you can know for sure is that the leaner you get the more muscle definition you will be able to see.
From what I have seen it would appear that between approximately 10-20% bodyfat our genetic fat storage patterns will play the biggest role in how we look compared to other people at the same % for men. As all men drop below 10% bodyfat we all start to look the same.
I’ve found a similar trend in women but at a higher range, more like 15%-25% bodyfat.
From this stand point all you really need to do is get to a level of definition/leanness that you like and maintain it. The exact percentage of bodyfat that you end up at is entirely irrelevant.
John
