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Cyclists and Body Mass Index
By spokesman | February 1, 2010
Body Mass Index (BMI) is a number calculated from a person’s weight and height. It provides a reliable indicator of body fatness for most people and is used to screen for weight categories that may lead to health problems. Nationally, almost a third of American adults are obese and nearly two-thirds are either obese or overweight under the BMI criteria. However a key drawback of the BMI is that people who are lean but well muscled (like many athletes) can have the same BMI as somebody who carries too much fat. Below are some professional cyclists with their height and weight based on internet searches. I have also calculated their BMI using the Center For Disease Control (CDC) BMI calculator below. Use the calculator to see how you compare. Although all of these cyclists are lean, all are within the normal range. Levi Leiphemier who is very lean based on the published height and weight falls in the middle of the normal range. Even Andy Schleck fell in the normal range, although his is bordering on underweight according to the BMI thresholds. Lance Armstrong had the highest BMI but I don’t know if the height and weight is correct.
- Levi Leipheimer: 5′7, 136.7 lbs - BMI = 21.4
- Lance Armstrong: 5′10″, 165 lbs - calculated BMI=23.7
- Andy Schleck: 6′1″, 140 lbs - calculated BMI =18.5
- George Hincapie - 6′3″, 170 lbs - calculate BMI =21.2
- Mark Cavendish - 5′9″, 150 lbs - calculated BMI = 22.1
Topics: Training |
February 3rd, 2010 at 5:00 am
You took the example of the cyclists, but what about weight lifters or culturists. They have very low fat, how their health is influenced by their BMI ?