Your body mass index or “BMI” for short, is a measurement that basically looks at your weight compared to your height and then declaring if you fit within the normal range.
As a medical indicator it has its uses but for a bodybuilder this standard measurement falls flat.
Your Biggly diet and exercise software can tell you your BMI and it’s worth knowing but understand this crucial point – muscle is much heavier than fat and your BMI score is primarily looking at body fat levels rather than your lean mass.
Virtually any successful bodybuilder will have a physique that on the BMI scale would put him or her as “obsese” – even though bodybuilders will typically have the leanest body in the room!
The standard BMI score is supposed to be between 18.5 and 25. If you go above 25 then you’re heading into ‘overweight’ if not obese but a lean muscular male bodybuilder would expect to score between 23 and 30.
A typical Calvin Klein model would expect to be around 24+
To calculate your BMI
An easy way to do this is use the online calculator here:
But if that doesn’t work for you or you wish to calculate manually this is the formula:
Measure your height in inches, then multiply that number by itself –
Then divide your weight, in pounds, by the number from step 1 above
Then multiply by 703.0
Voila! That’s your BMI.
Example:
Suppose Bob is 5ft 9in, weighing 200lbs.
5ft is 5 X 12 inches (60 inches) plus the extra 9 inches, so he is 69 inches.
69 X 69 is 4761
200lbs, divided by 4761 is 0.042
Multiply 0.042 by 703, which gives 29.52, thus Bob’s BMI is 29.52.
Note that a BMI over 30 and you’re technically “obese”, i.e. so fat as to be a serious health hazard. Bob is right on the border but that doesn’t tell us if he’s fat.
if you can reach 25 with a low body-fat percentage then your body is undeniably gorgeous! Simply stripping away the fat but leaving a scrawny shapeless body exposed is not sexy and definitely not Biggly!
Biggly bodybuilding software has a unique scoring system called the Biggly Body Index”. It is more comprehensive that the BMI, more fun than the BMI and actually scores higher if you have a high BMI rating but with low body fat. It also calculates on your shape, allowing for male or female, as well as telling you your conventional BMI score of course. What’s your Biggly score?
STOP PRESS! An online version, allowing you to check your BMI online and more importantly your score on the Biggly Body Index, is now available!