[noodlesUK]

(Not OP) I’m not an athlete anymore, but I used to be. It would be physically impossible for me to maintain my muscle mass and have a BMI considered normal, whilst also having a body fat percentage >5%. I know many other (pretty much exclusively taller men) people in the same situation.

[PhantomGremlin]

One classic example of this was Michael Jordan.

In his prime he was considered overweight. BMI is way too simplistic for taller athletes.

https://www.webmd.com/diet/features/how-accurate-body-mass-i...

[Reelin]

I guess it would be interesting to see how those numbers interacted graphically. Are the "bad" areas (ie high muscle mass at reasonable fat percentage) associated with health problems according to experts? Or should people with significantly above average muscle mass be using a different scale instead?

[enemywalker]

I believe a different scale would be helpful for people with above average muscle mass. Check out this research paper: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4890841/

The claim is that BMI does not differentiate between body lean mass and body fat mass. Things like hydrostatic testing are more accurate for determining body fat mass.

[nradov]

DXA scans are about as accurate as hydrostatic testing, and are much more widely available. In most urban areas you can get one for about $50.