What is the difference between men’s fitness and muscle building?

Essentially, it is a difference in scope and goal. All sports activities that actively improve physical condition can be classified as male fitness, while muscle gain is only a subdivision of fitness with the core goal of increasing muscle mass and optimizing muscle lines.

Think about it, running three kilometers around the park on the way to work up a sweat after work, meeting up with your brothers to play half-court basketball for two hours on the weekend, or even doing low-intensity aerobics with a blogger for half an hour after Yang Kang to restore lung capacity. These are all considered fitness, and no one requires you to gain a few kilograms of muscle before it counts. I met a guy in the gym two years ago who works as a back-end guy. He initially came here because he had a protruding waist from sitting for a long time and was unable to stand firmly. He practiced core strength and lower limb strength with small weights three times a week. After practicing for more than half a year, his muscle mass did not increase and his body fat did not drop, but his back pain was completely gone. This is the most typical example of fitness but not taking the muscle-building route.

If you really want to build muscle, it's not so casual. You have to stick to the training volume. Each major muscle group needs to be stimulated twice a week. The weight should basically be stuck in the range of complete exhaustion after 8 to 12 reps. After training, you have to supplement protein. You have to eat at least 1.6 grams per kilogram of body weight. If you don't sleep for 7 hours, the training effect will be basically reduced. There are some people in the circle arguing about this matter now. One group thinks that as long as you use the training logic of muscle gain, even if you don’t see muscle growth for the time being, you are still on the path to muscle gain. ； The other group denies that there is no positive growth in muscle mass. At most, it can be regarded as fitness through strength training, not real muscle gain. To put it bluntly, it is the difference between dividing by behavior or by results. There is nothing wrong with both sides.

In fact, if you use an analogy, you will understand. Fitness is like "eating". It is up to you to be rich and frugal. You can eat light fat-reducing meals, or you can eat a few bites to stay full and maintain the status quo. Whatever makes you feel comfortable.； Building muscle is a way of eating that is specifically aimed at "eating enough to gain weight". You have to count calories and focus on protein intake. Each bite has a clear goal. I used to have a riding friend. For the past four or five years, my fitness has been to ride 100 kilometers on weekends and run twice in the middle of the week. My body fat has been maintained at around 18 all year round. I look good in T-shirts and have enough physical fitness. Last year, I suddenly wanted to compete in a local amateur bodybuilding competition, so I started to seriously build muscle. In three months, he has solidly gained 4 kilograms of pure muscle, and his body fat has been controlled at around 10%. His arms have become 3 centimeters thicker. He even joked that the previous four to five years could only be called "maintaining active fitness". In the past three months, he has reached the threshold of muscle gain.

For ordinary men, there is actually no need to struggle with the boundaries between the two. Moving is better than lying on the sofa scrolling through mobile phones. If one day suddenly wants more obvious abdominal muscles and shoulders that can hold up clothes better, it is completely time to adjust the diet and training plan.