What is a Healthy Body Fat Percentage for Runners?

In Chicago, marathon training season is in full swing! Many of the training programs have gradually increased mileage over the past two months and long runs are now reaching the mid-teens. So how are you holding up? Are you feeling strong and eagerly anticipating your next challenge? If so, congratulations! Or, are you short on energy and/or nursing injuries? I hope not!

A key indicator of how your marathon training season may go is body fat percentage. To run your best, it's important to maintain a healthy body fat level. Too little or too much body fat can hinder performance and lead to injury and illness. To run your best while staying healthy and safe, try to reach and maintain a healthy body fat percentage. Maximizing performance requires reaching the best strength-to-weight ratio possible.

Women's General Body Fat Categories

The American Council on Exercise (ACE) divides body fat percentage into five different categories. They are essential, athletes, fitness, acceptable and obese. Essential body fat ranges from 10 to 14 percent. The athlete category is 14 to 20 percent, while the fitness group is 21 to 24 percent. Any women runner with a body fat percentage between 14 and 24 percent would be considered healthy based on these categories. However, those in the fitness and higher end of the athlete category could possibly improve performance if they slowly lowered their body fat percentage over time.

Men's General Body Fat Categories

The ACE categories for men are the same as for women, but the body fat percentages differ. Men need 2 to 5 percent body fat. The recommended athlete range is 6 to 13 percent, and the fitness category covers 14 to 17 percent. As with women, a male runner with a body fat percentage in either the athlete or fitness category would be considered healthy. But he might be able to improve performance while maintaining health by working towards the lower range.

An Important Note for Female Athletes

The female athlete triad is the term given to the combination of amenorrhea, osteoporosis and disordered eating. Any female athlete with body fat levels below a healthy level is at risk for this condition. Body fat levels that are too low lead to amenorrhea, the cessation of the menstrual cycle. This has negative effects on estrogen levels, which are critical for maintaining healthy bones. If female athletes have low estrogen for prolonged time periods, they risk osteoporosis and other skeletal injuries such as stress fractures, especially because training volume tends to stay at a high level. Female athletes need to maintain a healthy body fat level, which does not prevent a normal menstrual cycle.


Via: Livestrong.com