The Skin Fold Test

[spur]

Rip, Besides body building, is this test really necessary for a player in field sports? Is the lower body fat percentage more an appearance requirement than a sporting one? Instead of the guys with higher fat percentages trying to reduce it by dieting and aerobic/anaerobic work, is it not better to focus on gaining functional strength with BBT instead? I mean the player with an est. 20 percent body fat who can squat and dead lift twice his body weight obviously has better functional strength for his sport ( and therefore move efficiently on the field) than a weaker player with say 12 percent body fat?

[Mark Rippetoe]

The process of gaining functional strength while on a diet appropriate for one's individual needs will take body composition in the correct direction for each athlete. As a general rule, most strong athletes in their 20s that train hard and eat clean will be closer to 12% than 20% anyway. At 20% bodyfat, an athlete that needs to move will be carrying around a load that doesn't contribute to performance, but really, honestly, I've seen very few athletes who were actually training hard and eating correctly/not partying too much at 20% bodyfat. In other words, the process of gaining the strength to squat 2x bodyweight x 5 and obtaining the conditioning to APPLY it on the field most usually precludes a bodyfat level of 20%