Is it even possible for a 58 year old guy to have a 6 pack

leebesstoad

I've had a remarkable 2013. I started the year at 203 pounds and over 30% body fat. Now, 6 weeks before the end of the year, I've settled and maintained about 155. I was using the onine bodyfat calculators over at Fat2FitRadio.com to get a good idea of my body fat and was coming up somewhere around 17%. But yesterday, I decided to get a definitive answer. I drove a couple of hours to DC and went into the Bod Pod. I wasn't expecting the results. I wasn't at 17%. I was at 11.8%. At first the number was thrilling. And it is great news. And shows the work I've put in this year.

But I was thinking later that one dream I'd always had was actually having a 6 pack. When I thought I was at 17% bf, I guessed I had room to drop another 5-6 percent of bf and maybe the abs that I can actually feel might start being visible. But now that I know it's at 11.8%, that seems like a pipe dream.

I had gone into maintenance mode at my current weight because I was starting to look "scrawny". If I had to drop another 10 or so pounds to get the body fat down so the abs would show, I'd look positively ghostly.

So should I just cross that item off of my bucket list as completely unattainable? Does anyone have any other suggestions?

One thing the test did do: showed the BMI doesn't work with me. My BMI at 11.8% bodyfat was a 25.0. I'm overweight.

Thanks for any input.

heybales

You may have a genetic predisposition to a "beer gut" situation.

In which case, like you comment, you'd have to lose even more fat for that to go down to be as visible 6 pack others may show much easier or at higher BF%.

Lyle has a program specific for stubborn belly fat in case it's just related to what your body has built up over the years, and though it'll fight it, not genetic to have it.

Or just keep lifting heavy and eating at maintenance, you can likely keep trading fat for LBM at very slow rate. One study showed 3 lbs in 16 weeks.
But 3 lbs of fat may not sound like much in scheme of things, but that is decent volume.

And scrawny perception may just have to do with what muscles do or don't look built up as much as others.

Maybe you would enjoy a bulk session and get certain muscles built up better, before doing another cut so you don't look scrawny.
I think that better term is wiry though, or scrappy. ;-)

GiddyupTim

It is a fairly well documented fact that as we age our muscles tend to atrophy a bit and our fat stores redistribute themselves somewhat. Our face loses volume, and, in men, our butt loses mass and our stomach tends to gain visceral fat.
Can weight lifting combat these inevitable declines? Absolutely. But maybe not completely. You gotta work harder. You gotta be more blessed with good genes.
I used to play soccer in a 40-years-and-older men's league. On the field, my fellow players, with a few exceptions, looked rather pathetic for athletes. They had no butt, skinny legs and little bellies.
But, when you saw those same guys during the week, in their suits, they looked really in shape for their age.
Mind you, these are older guys who can sprint for 90 minutes and crash to the ground and get up again. But, fact is, you just lose aesthetics and muscle volume at a certain age.

Sarauk2sf

How tall are you?

leebesstoad

5'6", 155 pounds, 18.2 pounds fat, 136.8 pounds lean.

Of course, if you have any suggestions on how to grow taller, that would be appreciated too.

Sarauk2sf

Crap...totally missed your follow up. Will make a proper response later today/tomorrow.

_John_

BrainyBurro

yes. you just need an ID and $20.





j/k.

visible abs are just a function of BF%. iggy pop is 136 years old and he still has visible abs.