Reply With QuoteWhilst? Whilst considering this question, consider what you might mean by "perform well."
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Ideal Bodyweight for Performance
I am 5 foot 10.5 inches in height and weight just over 200 pounds
What should I be weighing to perform well in the gym whilst maintaining overall health?
I am unaware of my bodyfat percentage and I don't consider myself to be a novice.
TMPHBITEU
Whilst? Whilst considering this question, consider what you might mean by "perform well."
Member
Try to keep your waist circumference under 40, and weigh as much as you want to be as strong as you want.
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Imagine you have the same question, but specifically want to be a boxer. I would tell you to shoot for 154, you'd make a great junior middleweight.Originally Posted by Squat1
For a bodybuilder, it would be reasonable to shoot for about 195 shredded, and then of course take massive doses of anabolics to get to 220.
24% bodyfat isn't unhealthy in middle age. For strongman, you'd want to be closer to 245 or so.
A rock climber would want to be about 140 ideally.
IMO you should have a general (like within 5-6%) idea of your bodyfat just from training knowledge. It tells you what you need to do, and I suspect even this forum monitors BF% in those broad ranges. That's a pretty easy, half-assed visual way to keep your broader diet and goals on track. And I've had probably 25 lb differences in muscle mass at just over 200 pounds over the last decade, not to mention swings in cardiovascular capability or strength.
I guess I'm saying you should be more specific (to yourself) in who you are or what you want, or you will be generally disappointed.
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As posted by JStrong, there are many different aspects to consider, primarily being along the lines of what do you want to do with this fit and strong body you are building.
I have done it all: taken circumference measurements of my wrist, ankle, knee, and illiac crest (hip) to get a general idea of my skeletal structure, and then used various anthropometric models based on the Greek "phi" ratio to determine what my ideal body composition and measurements ought to be. I've also done a much simpler process of entering on the bodybuilding dot com website what I wanted my body to look like at the image of the bodybuilding ideal, and it came up with a body weight and percentage of fat I should be aiming for.
I am also 5 ft 10 inches and currently at about 187 pounds. Doing the bb dot com process, they came up with a target for me of 207 at 6%. OK. I'm still wondering why they did not bother to take my age into consideration -- I am 61 -- because if I was 20, that might be an attainable goal, or even desirable.
The other method -- the skeletal structure and using phi -- gives me a target weight of 187.5 at 8% bodyfat. It also tells me to maintain a waist girth of just over 31 inches and a shoulder circumference of 51.5 inches (along with a whole bunch of other desirable measures, like a flexed bicep at 16.5 inches, etc.). Based on my latest measurements, I am in range of hitting those targets, although I am holding on to a bit more body-fat at about 10%.
I still have to ask myself, "why?" How strong will I be at 187.5 and 8% bodyfat? Will I be able to press my body-weight? Will I be able to squat 2x? Deadlift 2.5x? Or should I continue to do NLP, adding incremental load each session, and just let my weight and bodyfat adapt to the training routine?
Member jfsully suggests keeping waist girth at under 40 inches; that's probably a good number to stay under, as it seems based on the BMI formula. We know BMI does not well reflect composition, especially for "body builders"; but it is very useful as an indicator for people who might be heading into health issues, and 40 inches appears to be the line at which this indicator starts providing useful information for males.
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