It’s clear different individuals have a tendency to store more fat in specific sites than others.
Inspired by Antiliberal’s reply to infinity’s poist, I decided to start a new thread where we can compare measurements - which will be interesting considering Alessi’s and Poliquin’s assertions that body fat storage sites have a strong correlation to one’s hormone profile.
Here are mine:
Suprailiac: 6 mm
Abdominal: 8 mm
Subscap: 10 mm
Pec: 10mm
Triceps: 12mm
Mid thigh: 14mm (Dont even DARE joke about this)
AntiLiberal’s measurements are vastly different from mine.
According to Poliquin, Suprailliac fat storage is strongly correlated with Insulin Resistance (If this is your biggest measurement, your body probably has some insulin resistance, as per Poliquin);
Subscap fold is highly correlated with free testosterone levels - if this is your biggest measurement, you probably have large ammounts of free T floating around, again, as per Poliquin.
Finnaly, and I wish I could ommit this, mid thigh measurements are highly correlated with above average Estrogen levels (again, as per Poliquin). Yohimbine is said to improve estrogen levels which will lead to a lesser tendency to store fat in the mid-thigh, and possibly lead to a reduction in this measurement.
Poliquin seems to relate a high triceps measurement to elevated cortisol levels, which put the body in a mode where it has a tendency to break down muscle and store calories in fat tissue. He reccomends Vitamin C and Adaptogens such as Ginseng to reduce cortisol levels.
My diet consists of 4 c+p meals since my insulin resistance would be pretty low, and 2 p+f meals at night. I’ve been supplementing with fish oils for a few months, and I’ve added Ginseng to reduce cortisol levels, as well a 3-4 g of vitamin C/day.
I run 1-2 times/week for 30 minutes to maintain a minium cardio endurance for upcoming bootcamp and core strength training 4 times per week (obliques, abdominals, spinal extensors, and stabilization/balance work).
i just wanted to point out that this hormone theory is highly debatable.
ill give an example adittiedly not the best one but here goes anyway. according to poliquin having a high thigh measurment means that one has high estrogen levels relatively speaking. if you had higher than normal estrogen levels wouldnt you also store a lot of bf in your abdominal and triceps area, like women do?
in the above post diesel has a relatively low ab measurment and a relatively high triceps measurment. but wait, doesnt a high triceps measurment mean high cortisol? wtf i dont get it? according to this our boy diesel who has a low ab skinfold, has high levels of estrogen and cortisol? i call BS!
sounds a litle over siplified but makes sense to me.
Women store fat preferentially in the stomach? I don’t think so. Women typically have lower body problems. You can see a woman with a super lean upper body (abs included) and think her lower body belongs to a different woman.
Diesel, where did you hear yohimbine affects estrogen levels? This isn’t the reason (at least the sole one if this happens to be the case) that yohimbine usage can be beneficial for lower body fat.
I have a hard time believing that someone with such low ab measurements would have high cortisol levels. As such, I need a bit more evidence that triceps fat is correlated to increased cortisol levels.
Cushing’s Syndrome, the clinical excess of cortisol, is characterized by fat accumulation in the torso/abdomen and chin with simultaneous limb wasting (and development of a buffalo hump, which isn’t really applicable here, but is cool to mention). I can’t see how the tricep skinfold would actually go up in this instance, especially given the subscap measurement indicating high free T.
Hmm, I too have a tough time following the logic with the “fat storage location = this bad thing” belief.
In my case I just seem to have most of my fat cells (or just the more accessible ones to use for storage, who knows) located in the midsection. My ab measurement though is 40% higher than any other location that is typically measured.
And in looking back at my measurements over many years, I’ve always had a very lean pectoral measurement, even when I was 20% BF. Thighs/tri are the same way, always ~60% or less of my ab number.
I guess it’s just my gift from the fat gods, that lovely high amount of midsection fat storage.
This is still a very interesting subject. I’d love to see how different people store fat and what the reason for these differences is. Perhaps, it’s nothing but a genetic thing where a specific culture developed to store fat primarily in a specific area.
I certainly wouldn’t dismiss the theory altogether. There are a lot of studies showing that insulin resistance is highly related to abdominal and suprailiac fat (i.e. the apple shape). I don’t see why we shouldn’t look for similar correlations with other circulating hormones. Exercise endocrinology is an ever-growing field; you never know what we might see in the years to come.