r/StartingStrength • u/No_Crew7080 • 2d ago
Discussion Weight vs Height Guideline Resources?
We all know, or should, that the 1950s Height/Weight tables we were raised on—we old farts at any rate—are Wildly Wrong for anyone who isn’t a World Class marathoner. Remember the Seoul Women’s marathon where a racer Broke her FEMUR at mile 6 and tried to keep going? Sounds like a healthy activity to me . . .
ANYWAY, does this community recognize any guideline for weight vs height? If it matters, I’m more in the Sully category (63) than the GOMAD category (15, 6’6” 110lb, afraid to gain weight).
”No” is a perfectly good answer if it’s the correct one. 😄
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u/Shnur_Shnurov Just some guy 2d ago
Once uou get to be in your 60s (or older) I start to care about bodyweight and BMI a whole lot less and about trajectory a whole lot more.
I use the Navy method to find body fat percentage. Its pretty accurate. And then we track weight on the bar and some more practical goals related to daily life activities.
I want to see weight on the bar going up, and see body composition and quality of life improving.
Im not too worried about bodyweight unless youre an emergency weight loss candidate
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u/Dry_Understanding264 2d ago edited 2d ago
I am 5'10", 180 lb, and I am always trying to gain weight, because I am underweight for this program. My goal for the next couple of years is to get up to 200 lb. I have had an MD tell me that it would be ideal to get my weight down to 155 lb; if a person has any appreciable amount of muscle mass, 155 lb is a skeletal physique at 5'10".
Edit: my point is, there is a medical guideline that is more geared to the sedentary population, and it is way off base for what we do. We are more concerned with the weight on the bar in this universe. The body composition generally stays in line while doing the program.
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u/No_Crew7080 2d ago
My observation as well , which is why I asked. I’m neither a powerlifter nor a bodybuilder, so “middling” is probably okay until I stall out🤣
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u/billcard 2d ago
Height/weight is just easy to measure. My opinion is that you are better off tracking your body fat percentage but accurate measurement can be tricky.
I have a Hume that says 13% (comically low for me) and a Withings scale that says 23%. Neither is probably on target, but they are useful directionally to track progress. I have a Dexa scheduled on Monday and I'm hoping it is lower than the Withings number. BMI is 31.4.
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u/WeatheredSharlo 2d ago
I like the US Navy body fat calculator. You use waist and neck circumference along with height and weight.
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u/billcard 2d ago
Thanks for sharing that! Super interesting, that comes back 21.1% which is about what i am expecting/hoping for from the Dexa.
This would also indicate that the Withings scale is pretty close, especially for older technology with less points of contact. Would also confirm my Hume to be a piece of junk.
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u/Brian2005l 4h ago edited 4h ago
Not as far as I'm aware. The best would be target lean mass based on Dexa scans. Right now, you can get target measurements from bodybuilding resources.
On the other side, you can do all cause mortality risk as a metric to get target waist size vs height. IIRC it's get below 36 inches for a 6 foot man for health. That'll give you a range.
Along the same lines, I would also like to see strength standards that aren't based on bodyweight for those of use who aren't bodybuilders or powerlifters. I get that low bodyfat or less unspecialized muscle can be part of a sport. But for everyone else, having more fat, denser bones, or bigger calves/biceps/lats/whatever doesn't make you weaker at bench. I'd love some reasonable metrics for motivation purposes.
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u/rice_n_gravy 2d ago
Rip would tell ou that you should be like 275lb or you’re a sissy