What are the differences between men’s fitness and muscle building?

Many men who are new to sports will default to "building muscle is the ultimate goal of fitness." However, in fact, the two are far different from the underlying logic to the execution path. Muscle building is just a highly directional subdivision in the field of fitness. The fitness that most people do on a daily basis is not the same thing as building muscle.

Just like what you often see in the gym, the operation guy who comes to run the elliptical machine for 30 minutes after get off work, and then leaves after two spinning classes, the colleague who meets up with friends to play Frisbee all afternoon on the weekend, and even the uncle who gets up early every day and runs around the neighborhood twice, are actually included in the category of fitness. He Their demands are very simple, either to reduce their belly and wear clothes that look good, or to stay up late and exercise to avoid a red flag in the physical examination. At most, they want their core to be tighter and easier to hold their children. They have never considered "building muscle" as their goal, and their training and diet are not geared toward muscle gain at all.

But if you are trying to gain muscle, the whole situation is completely different. A brother I trained with before, who is 180cm tall, did not touch milk tea hot pot for half a year in order to increase his arm circumference from 36cm to 40cm. He had to eat 190g of protein every day. , when training biceps, each group must be held until one rep before failure, and the rest between groups is precisely controlled at 60 seconds. Even the alarm clock must be set for 7.5 hours every day when sleeping. This level of precision and intensity is something that ordinary fitness people will never touch, and there is absolutely no need to touch it.

To put it bluntly, ordinary fitness is more like going for a drive in the countryside on weekends. You can choose any route and stop when you are tired. You can even get out of the car and take a few pictures when you see beautiful wild flowers. The core thing is to feel comfortable.； Building muscle is more like running a professional track race. The cornering speed, replenishment time, and tire pressure must be accurately calculated. All actions point to the final result, which is hard indicators such as muscle circumference and body fat rate. The investment costs of the two are also very different. For ordinary fitness, it may cost 2,000 a year to get a card. To build muscle, the monthly supplements and high-protein diet alone will cost thousands. If you find a competition preparation coach to guide you, the cost will be several times higher.

However, there are different opinions on the boundary between the two in the fitness circle. One group thinks that it is not necessary to make such a clear distinction. Many people start with ordinary fitness of "just moving around". After practicing, they feel that growing muscles is quite interesting, and then slowly turn to systematic muscle building. The essence is for the good of the body. Forcible cutting will easily discourage novices.； The other group believes that the boundaries must be clearly drawn. Otherwise, many novices will follow the plans of online muscle-building bloggers and lift heavy weights when they first enter the gym. They do not do the movements correctly and first injure their waists. There are also people who originally only wanted to lose fat after practicing for three months, but their legs are thicker and they feel anxious. The essence is that they do not understand whether their needs are general fitness or muscle gain, and they use the wrong method.

In fact, after practicing for four or five years, I feel that there is no need to worry about which one is more "authentic". If you just want to move and sweat, then it is good to take a walk and play ball every day. You don't have to force yourself to eat boiled chicken breasts that are difficult to swallow.； If you really like muscle lines and want to improve your circumference, then it’s okay to strictly follow the standards for muscle gain. The one that suits you is the best.