This is interesting and I never really thought of it like that. I do wonder what amount of crap people will give you about BMI. I’m surprised to not already see a reply about it.
I completely understand why people react to discussion of BMI in any context with anything from skepticism to hostility, a lifetime of having unhealthy western beauty standards and eating disorder shit shoved in your face in every media format will do that. What we need is a standard scale for general categorization of body type/shape/size by comparable physical ability, most likely based on muscle to total body mass ratio and limb length. There’s something to be said for the differing growth rates for slow vs fast twitch muscle between people who are estrogen vs testosterone dominant and how it affects endurance vs strength, but there is no way to grow stronger without growing larger/heavier. Skill level will definitely still need to be accounted for separately, but ranking systems within competitive sports aren’t exactly unprecedented either.
This is interesting and I never really thought of it like that. I do wonder what amount of crap people will give you about BMI. I’m surprised to not already see a reply about it.
I completely understand why people react to discussion of BMI in any context with anything from skepticism to hostility, a lifetime of having unhealthy western beauty standards and eating disorder shit shoved in your face in every media format will do that. What we need is a standard scale for general categorization of body type/shape/size by comparable physical ability, most likely based on muscle to total body mass ratio and limb length. There’s something to be said for the differing growth rates for slow vs fast twitch muscle between people who are estrogen vs testosterone dominant and how it affects endurance vs strength, but there is no way to grow stronger without growing larger/heavier. Skill level will definitely still need to be accounted for separately, but ranking systems within competitive sports aren’t exactly unprecedented either.
Enlightening post on BMI: https://hachyderm.io/@mekkaokereke/109917011319803148
Thanks for sharing! I knew some of this but a whole lot was new, saving for later reference
Reminds me of these absolutely ripped MFs that have higher BMI than my tubby ass.
BMI is for sure not a great system