Body fat % has very little (if anything) to do with cardio, explosiveness, quickness...

[Rubios]

We're talking not being obese, ofc.

Fat tissue's oxygen demands are very low. Muscle tissue needs a much larger supply. Fat adds size and volume which, even with the same lean muscle mass, increases strength. Fat is essential for an optimal hormonal environment.

And, even, fat protects joints. In BB, it's a delicate balance between the protection it offers (shoulders and ribcage, mostly) and the extra weight you're carrying every time you land on your feet.

Look at some athletes with outlier, freakish cardio, quickness, explosiveness and high body fat %. I'm not even pointing out at the extreme examples (Daniel Cormier, Andy Ruiz...) Just look at Fedor.

TL;DR Rule of thumb of body fat % for peak athletic performance in males is between 7-10% is... a rule of thumb.
Some athletes perform better over 12%, up to roughly 15%.

Only their trainers know.
If a player (I'm thinking Luka) is gasping for air mid 3rd quarter, that's a cardio&conditioning problem. Not necessarily a weight one.



P.S. No, I'm not fat. I'm actually "skinny-lean" and have a hard time putting weight, muscle or not.

[Rendei]

Fat weighs less than muscle, but it's still weight. The more a person weighs, the harder it is to make sudden movements, and the more energy it will require to keep moving. If you ask a guy to hold a ten pound weight, he won't be able to run as far. Adding 10 pounds of fat is no different.

[manlisten]

This seems like one of those on paper scientific thingies that doesn't actually translate to real life. Like how eating junk food doesn't cause acne. Then 15 years later it's "discovered" that it actually does, when everybody knew that already.

[UcanUwill]

I am no scientist, but I always saw it as natural gift that you can improve or diminish. I never knew what my body fat index was, but when i was young, it must have been very very low, but I was still slow and unathetic, I just never had athletic gifts. Some people are just naturally stronger, faster and more athletic, it was apparent to me from very young age in school, and not like some more athletic and stronger 11 year olds were in a gym, they were just naturally more athletic than me and others ever since elementary school.

Of course if you pack fat, it tanks your athleticism 100% of the time, but some people have enough athletic adventage, they will be more athletic still even when being fatter.

[scrabbarista]

OP makes a fair point that, for example, 10% may work better than 7% for a particlar body that needs to perform particular basketball tasks. And I'm not even saying I know this; I'm just saying I'm open to the possibility.

But we all know in shape and out of shape when we see it. I feel I do, at least.

And most fat is useless weight, which make everything harder. Balance, for example. Yes, all bodies can make use of fat, but there's a reason why basktball players tend to be low fat. Not sure what OP is trying to convey here, tbh.

And useless weight obviously will impact cardio, explosiveness, and quickness, so OP is wrong there. It's not the primary factor (as UCanUWill points out), but it is a factor.

[scrabbarista]

I am no scientist, but I always saw it as natural gift that you can improve or diminish. I never knew what my body fat index was, but when i was young, it must have been very very low, but I was still slow and unathetic, I just never had athletic gifts. Some people are just naturally stronger, faster and more athletic, it was apparent to me from very young age in school, and not like some more athletic and stronger 11 year olds were in a gym, they were just naturally more athletic than me and others ever since elementary school.

Of course if you pack fat, it tanks your athleticism 100% of the time, but some people have enough athletic adventage, they will be more athletic still even when being fatter.

100%.

[CoP]

Cardio? The best cardio athletes in the world - sprinters and marathoners- have super low body fat %. So doubt. I guess it depends on how you define cardio. Fedor was a freak in that capacity. I would say that generally speaking, bigger MMA guys do tire more quickly, but absolutely there can be fatter people who still have great cardio. But I wouldn't say it doesn't matter at all.

Body fat % and something like number of fast twitch muscle fibers? Yes, there is definitely a correlation there. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10490806/

[Sofia]

lol not reading

Luka is fat

[scrabbarista]

P.S. No, I'm not fat. I'm actually "skinny-lean" and have a hard time putting weight, muscle or not.

To be honest, if you got to experience what it's like to carry excess weight in the form of fat, you might feel differently about this topic.

In my personal experience working out, there has been pretty much an inverse relationship in the amount of fat I carry and my stamina, explosiveness, and strength.

[Sixers in 4]

Sounds sketchy. Like I am big boned not fat sketchy.

Watch on YouTube

[Meat]

Fat weighs less than muscle, but it's still weight. The more a person weighs, the harder it is to make sudden movements, and the more energy it will require to keep moving. If you ask a guy to hold a ten pound weight, he won't be able to run as far. Adding 10 pounds of fat is no different.

Weight, mass and volume aren't the same thing.

[Blame Rasho]

Well we will see how this goes for Wemby after packing the pounds.

I look at a player like George Hill compared to Tony Parker, and Hill had no body fat and he was never in the same league as Parker when it came to speed and conditioning. You had some players like Rose, Westbrook, prime Wall that were are bigger than both and I would argue we’re quicker and had better conditioning.

I can look at Tayshawn Prince and he was never the quickest player in the NBA if we go off of body percentage.

Everyone body is different.

[The Servant]

Fat weighs less than muscle, but it's still weight. The more a person weighs, the harder it is to make sudden movements, and the more energy it will require to keep moving. If you ask a guy to hold a ten pound weight, he won't be able to run as far. Adding 10 pounds of fat is no different.

I'd like to see this because I don't believe it. I think if someone ran an agility course at 15% body fat (barely visible abs) and ran one at 11% (6 pack abs) (5 pound difference across an entire body) I doubt their times would vary in total by even a second.

[ThunderBolt]

That explains why women lust after dad bods.

[og15]

The OP says we're not talking about obese people.

There is a decent range of body fat percentage that can work for cardio, explosiveness and quickness, and basketball players are also balancing all that with strength and energy. So if you're too lean for your body, you energy levels will be low for example, so obviously many guys should NOT be having visible 6 packs, because the amount of leanness required for them to have that might be bad for their energy levels.

Generally if you are lighter, you will be quicker and more explosive, but that's not really changing from a few point of body fat percentage. Of course if you are 20 lbs heavier vs lighter, that will make a difference, but that's about the weight itself, not simply the body fat percentage (though of course we get that there is usually a correlation). I mean, yea, if you're rocking 30% body fat, of course that is a problem, but 16% vs 12% is not really changing much for example.

[Kurtz]

I've never seen a chubby runner at the Olympics.

[EastonEddy]

OP is a self proclaimed skinny guy and is trying to tell us how fatties feel on court. Let me tell you body fat % has a direct impact on conditioning and explosiveness lol.

[rand]

Fat tissue's oxygen demands are very low. Muscle tissue needs a much larger supply. Fat adds size and volume which, even with the same lean muscle mass, increases strength. Fat is essential for an optimal hormonal environment.

Fat does not generate strength, ie. fat tissues cannot generate force. Only muscle tissue can do that. Fat increases mass which makes it easier to resist force applied on you and increases the momentum a person possesses over another at the same velocity, which in some contexts have the same effect as generating force.

As fat does not generate force, it absolutely affects your explosiveness and your full body quickness because it is dead weight which your muscle mass must carry in order to move you.

Fat can also alter your center of gravity, affecting balance and agility.

[Rdude22]

I understand the need to cape for Luka by any means necessary if he's your favorite player or whatever,

but arguing that 8% body fat isn't much better for performance than 12% body fat... um? What does that have to do with Luka swiggin kegs of beer inbetween games and playin defense like he's constipated?

Also, anyone who does cardio knows there's a difference in how you feel running/performing intense activities at 15% body fat compared to 10%. Doesn't mean you can't still run your 6-min mile or whatever but it's a bit easier without the extra fat. Point is, if you can improve your performance by even a small percentage by slimming down... and you're a professional athlete who's coaching staff and organization is telling you to slim down... then get your fat @$$ away from the beer and tx bbq

[sikma42]

OP is a self proclaimed skinny guy and is trying to tell us how fatties feel on court. Let me tell you body fat % has a direct impact on conditioning and explosiveness lol.

After some point it doesn’t really effect explosiveness. Paul Pierce isn’t going to be a lot quicker if he was shredded earlier in his career. Joe Ingles isn’t going to become a lot quicker by getting shredded.

It correlates with better conditioning but at some point the explosiveness gains aren’t really big. I think Pierce was better off at his body type rather than thinning out or muscling up.


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