The relationship between male fitness and muscle gain

Men's fitness and muscle gain are never necessarily equated; Strong positive correlation under controllable conditions ——Only when your fitness behavior conforms to the stimulation logic of muscle hypertrophy and matches adequate nutritional supplements and regular rest will the muscle gain effect be triggered.； Illogical training will not only fail to build muscle, but may cause muscle loss, sports injuries, and even lower your basal metabolism.

A while ago, I met a young man who was doing back-end development at the community gym I frequented. He worked 996 for a week and still squeezed in two hours after get off work every day to spend time in the gym. He rocked dumbbell curls like a tumbler. The interval between sets was enough to finish an entire episode of funny short videos, and then he went out after training. He also had to buy a cup of iced milk tea and fried chicken as a reward. After three months of hard work, he took a physical test and saw that his body fat had increased by 2%, and his muscle mass had not increased at all. He clutched the report and squatted at the door of the dressing room and wondered: "Don't you say that men just gain muscle when they exercise?" ”

To be honest, men do have an innate buff when it comes to muscle gain. After puberty, the testosterone level of normal men is 10-20 times higher than that of women of the same age, and testosterone is the core muscle-stimulating hormone. Under the same training intensity and dietary conditions, men’s muscle-building efficiency is about 2-3 times that of women. This is an advantage written in genes, and there is no comparison. But this advantage is not created for you. I have seen too many people take advantage of their youth and high metabolism, practice blindly, and finally make their testosterone levels lower than those of menopausal women. It is really not a joke.

Nowadays, the fitness circle has been arguing about how to build muscle for almost 20 years, but there is no unified answer: the old-school traditional bodybuilding athletes firmly believe that "heavy weight + multiple sets + failure is the way to go". If the interval between sets is 30 seconds, they will rush to the next set, pursuing the pumping feeling that makes the muscles swollen and they can't even put on a jacket.； Powerlifting enthusiasts believe in "progressive overload". As long as the weight, number of sets or total volume of each training is a little more than the last time, it doesn't matter even if you rest for three to five minutes between sets, you can still grow muscles. ； There is also the "metabolic stress training method" that has become popular in recent years. It does not even require heavy weights, but can achieve results by repeatedly stimulating with light weights and high repetitions. I have tried all three. To be honest, for ordinary men who are doing natural fitness, all three methods are useful as long as you can ensure standard movements and feel your muscles in place. There is no need to use one or the other. The one that suits you is the best.

I went through more pitfalls than this when I was just practicing in the early years. At that time, I believed in the online "Two exercises a day to build muscle faster". I got up at 6 o'clock in the morning to do chest exercises. In the evening after get off work, I had to do another five kilometers of aerobics. After training, I ate an apple for dinner. I stayed up until one or two o'clock to watch fitness videos. After a month of blood injection, not only did my bench press weight not increase, but I also lost 5kg. When I wore a T-shirt, my shoulder line was even more saggy than before. I went to see a friend who is a rehabilitation trainer of the provincial team, but he took one look at me and asked, "Are you here to gain muscle or to clean up your body fat in preparation for the competition?" If you do aerobics more than you eat protein, it would be strange if you don’t lose muscle. ”

Oh, by the way, the most controversial issue on the Internet now is "Can natural fitness gain 10kg of pure muscle in a year?" The two sides are almost fighting: someone said that he did it during the novice welfare period. He ate 6 meals a day, chicken breast, eggs and broccoli, and had enough sleep for 8 hours. He hired a personal trainer for all the training, and gained 4kg of pure muscle in three months.； Some people also say that it is pure nonsense. If you can gain 3-5kg of pure muscle in a year through natural fitness, it is already the ceiling, and the rest is all water and fat. In fact, there is nothing wrong with both of them. Individual differences are huge. Some people are born with high testosterone levels and strong activity of muscle satellite cells (the core repair cells for muscle gain). In addition, they are stuck in the novice welfare period. It is entirely possible to reach this threshold. However, for 90% of ordinary men, if they train three or four times a week, eat only enough protein, and occasionally stay up late to socialize, it is already very good to gain 2-3kg of pure muscle in a year. There is really no need to be led astray by online anxiety marketing.

Someone else asked, "I just want to move casually, will I accidentally become too strong?" ”I want to laugh every time I hear this. Really, building muscle is more difficult than getting a low-level 985 exam. You can just do a few strokes and practice, and the muscles will not grow at all. If it were so easy to grow, those players in professional competitions would not have to eat calories every day and practice until they vomit.

In fact, in the final analysis, fitness is only a necessary condition for building muscle, not a sufficient condition. You have to combine training, diet, and recovery to see results. Don't always think about taking shortcuts, taking medicines, or taking folk remedies. In the end, it is your body that will suffer. Practice steadily, eat well and sleep well. Over the years, you will always be able to see the changes in the mirror.