The relationship between male fitness and muscle gain

The essence of male fitness and muscle gain is a relationship of "necessary but not sufficient cause and effect + two-way adaptation" - scientific fitness behavior is the prerequisite for natural muscle gain, but it does not necessarily mean that you will gain muscle as long as you practice it. The final muscle gain efficiency and the upper limit of muscle mass that can be achieved completely depend on the match between training, diet, recovery plan and your personal physiological conditions. There is no standard answer to how long you should practice and how much muscle you will gain.

Last year, I took two male interns of the same age, both 175cm and 60kg, with thin ectomorph bodies. They entered the gym front and back and made an appointment to practice together. One of the plans was based on a powerlifting blogger. Every day, I would hit 1RM bench press and deadlift. I would rest for 10 minutes between sets. After practice, I would take a photo of the congested circle of friends. I would eat Shaxian snacks with two meat and one vegetable. After three months, my rotator cuff was injured first. I only gained 2 pounds on the scale, and my body fat increased by two points. ； The other one followed me in 5-part training, reaching 16 sets of effective capacity each time, resting between sets for 1 and a half to 2 minutes, eating 2 more eggs and 1 cup of whole milk every day, and adding a spoonful of protein powder before going to bed. In the same three months, I gained 8 pounds. My arms were so tight when I wore the shirt before, and my body fat only increased by less than 1 point.

Don't tell me, this is the most real gap. Many people always think that "I can grow muscles as long as I practice", which is really not the case. To put it bluntly, the underlying logic of muscle gain is very simple: training gives the muscles enough stimulation, causing tiny muscle fiber damage, and then through adequate nutritional supplements and rest to complete excessive recovery, the muscles will slowly become thicker, which is the same as thick calluses growing on your hands after repeated grinding. But with such simple logic, not many people can really get it right.

Regarding the relationship between training and muscle gain in the fitness circle, you must have heard of the two schools that have been arguing for almost ten years: One school is the "capacity theory" spread in the bodybuilding circle, which says that as long as the total training capacity (weight * number of sets * times) given to the target muscles per week is enough and the stimulation is in place, the muscles will definitely grow, regardless of whether you go for heavy weights.； The other school is the "load priority theory" advocated by powerlifting enthusiasts. It says that as long as you can squat, pull and push the weight, the muscle mass cannot be low, and the stack capacity is just a chore for novices.

There are solid hammer supports on both sides. If you look at professional natural bodybuilders, they will indeed pile a lot of medium-weight and high-volume training during the preparation period, and their muscle lines will be clearly carved.； And those powerlifting enthusiasts who can squat 2 times their body weight and push 1.5 times their body weight, even if they don't do differentiated training, their muscle mass without clothes is much higher than that of people who train light weights all year round. To put it bluntly, the two schools are suitable for different people. For beginners who have just started working out for less than half a year, their neural recruitment ability is still very poor. Prioritizing loading will lead to faster results. If you can bench press from an empty bar to 60kg, your chest muscles will definitely thicken visibly. For advanced people who have practiced for more than a year, it is difficult to break through the strength bottleneck in a short time. At this time, the effective capacity is accumulated, which puts continuous metabolic pressure on the muscles, and the efficiency of muscle growth is higher.

There is an even more controversial topic: How much muscle can you build in a year through natural fitness? Many people say that during the bonus period, novices can gain up to 8-10 pounds of pure muscle per year, and the extra weight is all fat. Some people take out their own physical test sheets and say that they have gained 15 pounds in a year, and their body fat has not increased at all. It is all pure muscle. My own experience is that when I first started training in the system in 2019, my weight increased by 11 pounds in one year, and my body fat increased from 12% to 15%. Calculated pure muscle is about 8 pounds, which is just within the standards of the previous school. However, I know a young man who is a natural bodybuilder. His natural testosterone level is at the upper limit of the normal value for adult men. Regardless of absorption, he really gained 14 pounds in one year as a novice, and his body fat only increased by 1.5%. Do you think he cheated? People can take drug tests at any time, it's really a talent crushing.

Oh, by the way, many people have misunderstood the definition of "fitness". They think that only the 1 hour of lifting irons counts as fitness, but this is not the case. The spoonful of protein powder you drink after training and the eight hours of sleep you get at night are all part of the muscle-building chain. I have seen too many people go to the gym after work and run for 40 minutes to do aerobics and then do strength training for an hour. After training, they dare not eat rice for fear of gaining weight. They stay up late playing games until 1 o'clock when they get home. After half a year of training, their muscles have not increased at all. They also ask me if I have poor talent. Damn, this is not a matter of talent. You have consumed more after training than you have consumed. There are no raw materials for muscle synthesis and no time to synthesize it. It is strange that it can increase.

Some people used to compete with me and said, "I saw the old man in the park practicing horizontal and parallel bars every day, and his muscles are very strong." This is actually a problem of adaptability. The training model of street fitness relies on body weight for multiple stimulations, and it can also achieve sufficient training capacity. People practice every day and have regular diet and rest. Of course, they can grow muscles, but the upper limit of the load of body weight training is low. In the later stage, it is difficult to build the large-latitude muscles of bodybuilders. In essence, it is also in line with the logic of training and muscle gain.

I have been training for the sixth year this year, and I have gone through many detours. I followed the trend and practiced the 5*5 plan. I also tried to train myself twice a day to the point of overtraining and losing muscles. Now I have looked away. The relationship between fitness and muscle gain has never been a fixed formula in a textbook. If you want to be healthy Depending on your figure, there is no need to stick to other people's plans. Don't paddle when you have eaten enough, slept enough, and practiced enough. You will definitely see changes in half a year. If you want to take the road of competition, then just dig into the details and test your talent to find the plan that suits you best. After all, fitness is about your own comfort, right?