Your Muscularity Goal: Fat Free Muscle Index

[cccatl]

A good, way to set a muscularity goal is to use the Fat Free Muscle Index (FFMI).

My muscularity goal is about 28 (26 to 30 is my range). Post yours. Let's see what people want.

Warning: this post can be technical.

If you're not familiar with the FFMI, the nice thing about the FFMI is that it, unlike weight, calculates a level of muscularity that's independent of height and bodyfat. The folks who wrote the Adonis Complex use this index to measure the muscularity of men who did use and did not use steroids. This way they could compare the muscle growth effect of steroids across guys who are varied heights and bodyfat levels.

BTW, what they found in the Adonis Complex is that the natural upper limit to muscularity is a FFMI=24. This is not true for all men, but for those few genetically gifted people who also train right and eat right, they could attain a FFMI of 24. For most men, a FFMI of 20 or 22 might be more realistic. Steroid users, on the other hand, were able to achieve FFMI's much larger than 24. The largest competitive bodybuilders have FFMI's of 39!

To give you an idea of what a FFMI of 25 looks like or a 30 looks like, here's table that I calculated (note these numbers are a little dated. I made this table back in 2006. Guys like Brett Mycles have since gotten bigger. Also, I got their height and weight information from the web, but I had to guess their bodyfat levels, so there's some slop here)

Models FFMI
Brett Mycles 25.4
Chelsea Muscle 26.7
Bill Davey 26.9
Mark Dalton 27.1
Sonny Markham 27.5
Zeb Atlas 27.5
Nate Christianson 28.2
Sagi Kalev 28.6
Jake Tanner (hungmslstud) 29.1
Derek Anthony 29.5
Erik Fankhouser 30.4
Darin Lannaghan (Doug Perry) 30.8
Tom Lord 30.8
Jake Butler 31.3
John Safar 31.4
Scott Klein 33.8
Jay Cutler 39

My range is 26-30. People like Brett Mycles and Bill Davey are sort of the lower end of where I'd like to be. People like Erik Fankhouser and Darrin Lannaghan are the upper end of what I'd like to be.

Zeb Atlas is one my ideals, and he is right in the middle at 28. Sizewise, he's definitely steroid-enhanced, supramasculine, huge muscle guy. But his physique, to my mind, is still human. It's not so big and bulked that it starts to look.. well, insect-like (think segmented thoraxes). Like, at FFMI 30+, the physiques start to lose human proportions for me. 30 is about where my attractions change. Like Erik Fankhouser and Darin Lannaghan are hot. And, Tom Lord and Jake Butler, while hot, are not as hot to me as Erik and Darin.

So, my personal muscularity goal is about 28. I'm currently at 25. (5'10", 210#, 20% bodyfat). So, I'm gonna add 20 more pounds of muscle, and see if I want more... woof! That turns me on..

If you want to calculate your FFMI, the easiest way to use this calculator:

http://www.naturalphysiques.com/tools.php?itemid=28

If you're more comfortable with equations, here is the formula:

FFMI = (body weight in kg * (1-bodyfat%))/(Height in m)^2 + 6.1*(1.8-height in m)

Bodyfat is the one parameter that's hard to estimate. To aid you in bodyfat estimations:

Description Men
Essential fat 2-4%
Competing Bodybuilders ~5%
Athletes 6?13%
Typical Fitness cover model: ~8%
Many porn stars : ~10%-15%
Fitness 14?17%
Acceptable 18?26%
Overweight 27-37%
Obese 38%+

So, post your muscularity goal in FFMI.

[musclekid]

wow mines 22.4 i feel good bout that

[Ragetiger]

24.1 with an adjusted 24.6 (FFMI)

I feel much better than the 30.3 (BMI) that keeps staring at me. I should move that scale to the athletic mode instead of keeping it in normal. Then again seeing that 30 only adds to my drive to push harder at the gym.

[b.spencer]

My current FFMI is 27.3. Even though I have only used one cycle, I guess I can now understand why guys think I have been using for years and done shows, etc.

My goal FFMI is 30.9. Considering that I have always very much admired the bodies of Tom Lord and Darin Lannaghan, it makes perfect sense.

[BBMikeNJ]

24.1 here, all natural. Guess I need to bump it up some if I want to hit 28.5. Will use a fantasy goal of 45.9 to push me thru my workouts.

[WhoDunIt]

Damn, even when I put in 37% fat I still come up with a possible 244lbs of muscle!!!

[BIGJOEY]

your numbers for some of the bodybuilders cant be right. although its a good attempt. but it is a interesting item to look at. But you have to be careful on getting hooked into numbers and worrying about them all the time . Try the mirror that doesn't lie

[cccatl]

Originally Posted by BIGJOEY

your numbers for some of the bodybuilders cant be right. although its a good attempt. but it is a interesting item to look at. But you have to be careful on getting hooked into numbers and worrying about them all the time . Try the mirror that doesn't lie

Big Joey,

I agree with you. I tried posting a fuller table with heights, weights, and bodyfat% so that people could inspect the inputs to the FFMI calculation, but the table didn't present well when I previewed the post, so I elected the simpler table, which still got the point across.

The numbers I obtained are from the bodybuilder/model websites, which um.. may be a tad bit exaggerated. And, when those numbers weren't available, I googled them, which, as you know, if it comes from the internet, it must be true. Finally, while height and weight are commonly available, bodyfat% is not, and even if it was, this number is notoriously hard to measure unless you do the "weighing while underwater" test (not cheap or convenient). So, I often estimated the number, which is why I included the table of bodyfat%'s. But, at 200 lbs, 5% of bodyfat represents 10 pounds, a lot of weight. So, at best, I think the bodyfat% estimates are accurate to +/-2.5%.

Regarding the mirror, I agree with you. These are ultimately just numbers, useful, but only represent the actual thing. Still numbers are easier to compare and can provide a basis for an interesting conversation. But, yes, I agree with you. Ultimately, it's the mirror/photos/muscle worshippers that tell you whether it's hot or not.

[BIGJOEY]

i have found that when people do bodyfat number there is a built in margin of error. You cant measure the body on the exact point every time. also it depends how many point on the body your checking, The only way to really check bodyfat is hydrostatic testing which can run 300 dollars. But they are just numbers. Remember nobody can live fat free . Your body needs a certain amount of body fat. keeping it low for long periods of time will do more damage than good. Pro bodybuilders do not keep in contest shape all year round.

[byronlewis]

My current FFMI would be 29. Considered still to be an acceptable range and in good health.