Body fat

I have a little electronic device that measures body fat. It sends a little current through your body and measures resistance. Fat has a different resistance than muscle. You have to enter in you height weight and age. It is only so accurate, but it is a good constant. When I started cycling this spring I was right at 20%. But I have it down now to 18%. I've been as low as 14%. Cycling 10 to 20 miles a day will bring that down. It rained again today so I rode indoors on my rollers.

The instructions of the body fat device say that men should be between 10 and 20%. Women between 15 and 25%. Most people I test are in the mid 20s. I've only tested one person who was 10%. He was very little and skinny. Hardly anyone is under 20%. I've tested some very fat people and the device seems to max out a little over 35%.

Where am I going with this? In the winter I ski race. In the summer I cycle and windsurf. I need to be light for cycling and windsurfing. I need to be heavier for skiing as long as my legs are strong enought manage the extra weight. Skiing is a gravity sport. Big and strong is better. (not big and fat) I'm just under 6 feet tall, and my weight ranges from summer to winter. In the winter I can get up to around 200 lbs. I was right next to Bodie Miller a couple of years ago at a ski race in Park City, and he was just that much bigger. Probably about 6'2" and I would suspect 215 lbs or more. But he needs to be very strong to be able to manage his body weight in the situations that ski racing presents. I think he will have a problem maintianing this weight/strength as he ages (like I have). For old age smaller is better as joints wear out and this sort of thing.

Cycling during the summer is a very good way to gain strength for ski racing even though I tend to loose weight in the process. The weight comes back on as winter sets in. I've been playing around with this for a few years. I take ski racing more seriously than cycling so I don't worry about getting down ultra low in the summer. But I'm going to shoot for 14% body fat according to my device.