What is the optimal amount of BF to grow?

**1-Cent** · 08-09-2004, 04:31 PM

Say I want to pack on a good amount of muscle over winter with no consideration of fat and water, what is the best place to be in terms of body fat when trying to grow the most possible muscle?

Before my first cycle my stats were:
180lbs @ 6-7%

After I hit the dbol my bf climbed to about 10% and thats when I seemed to make the most gains. Now it's dropped down again to about 8% in my 9th week of Test. Its not because of diet, I'm eating like a starving cow trapped in a hay silo, I just have a very fast metabolism and I'm an ecto on top of that.

I got a sweet ass deal on a test/tren combo so I went ahead and bought that but seeing how tren will lower my bf further in all likelyhood will that hinder my progress? I can always save it and go for a drol/test/deca cycle but I want to be sure I make the right choice.

Peak Stats:
205lbs
10%

Current stats:
200lbs
8%

**max-it** · 08-09-2004, 04:37 PM

For the most part, the heavier you are the more you will be able to lift. This is largly due to the mechnical advantage the additional weight gives you. Having said this, you have two choices. Add weight by adding fat or by adding lean body mass. If your doing a few bulking cycles to get your lean body mass up then I would say go for it. Just remember, ultimately you want to realize your strength goals by achieving the lean body mass necessary, not by simply "bulking up" through increased body fat. Just my .02

***Mr. Sparkle*** · 08-09-2004, 04:43 PM

I think its pretty individualistic. For some its hard to grow leaner than 10... I grow fairly well at 9.5. But Id like to be leaner... this interests me as well bump!

**DEVLDOG** · 08-09-2004, 04:52 PM

Originally Posted by Mr. Sparkle

I think its pretty individualistic. For some its hard to grow leaner than 10... I grow fairly well at 9.5. But Id like to be leaner... this interests me as well bump!

10%bf is not high,there are people that cant even get this low and stay there...i would say stay off the scale and use a mirror and judge your progress from there..if your going in the right direction,a mirror will tell you much better then a scale...from what you are explaining,body fat wont be an issue for you...esp running tren /test combo...keep your diet clean and eat as much as you can and train like an animal and make sure you sleep to recover and you will more then fine

**Ntpadude** · 08-10-2004, 01:13 AM

Originally Posted by DEVLDOG

10%bf is not high,there are people that cant even get this low and stay there...i would say stay off the scale and use a mirror and judge your progress from there..if your going in the right direction,a mirror will tell you much better then a scale...from what you are explaining,body fat wont be an issue for you...esp running tren/test combo...keep your diet clean and eat as much as you can and train like an animal and make sure you sleep to recover and you will more then fine

10% is perhaps the optimal balance between staying reasonably lean and being able to grow the muscles. The reason being the more fat you have, the less catabolic you are. Guys with 20% BF can grow muscles much faster then someone with 8% BF. On the other hand there is an obvious advantage in good looks, health, cholesterol, lower blood pressure, etc with the lower BF over the higher so I'd say 10 to 15% is best for the bulking on muscle. When you get BF below about 7, you start becoming highly catabolic and just too easy to loose muscle mass.