What is the relationship between male fitness and muscle gain?

Simply put, fitness is the core triggering path for men to gain muscle, and muscle gain is a common goal for men in resistance fitness. However, the two are never necessarily bound to each other, and there are a lot of variables in the middle such as training mode, nutrition, rest, and individual talent.

The underlying logic of muscle growth is over-recovery. You must first cause slight damage to the muscle fibers through external resistance stimulation. Only when the body is repairing will the muscle fibers become compensatory and thicker, and the muscle size and strength will increase. Because men are born with testosterone secretion that is more than ten times that of women, they are inherently more efficient in building muscle. However, if there is no resistance stimulation at all, even if they eat beef and drink protein powder every day, the excess calories will only turn into fat and pile up on the waist, and no muscle will be grown. I met a programmer who had just joined the job two years ago. He was 183cm tall and only weighed 118kg. I heard that to gain muscle, he had to eat more protein. He stuffed 5 eggs and drank two cans of whole milk every day. He sat in the office and could hardly move except to collect water. He did not gain a pound of weight after eating for more than three months. Later, he did push and pull leg split training three times a week. Each time, he focused on compound movements such as squats, bench presses and deadlifts. He gained 7kg in more than two months. The shoulder line of the shirt he wore before wearing it was stretched out, and his body fat did not change much.

Of course, don’t think that just going to the gym can build muscle. Many people spend two hours in the gym every day, half of the time scrolling through their phones and half of the time doing aerobics. After practicing for more than half a year, their muscles have not increased but have fallen off the scale. The essence is that they have not followed the training logic needed to build muscle. There used to be an older brother who often came to the gym to lose fat. In order to lose fat in the amateur league, he would run for 40 minutes and then do core training for 20 minutes every day. After running for three months, he lost 6 points of body fat and his arms became 1.5 centimeters thinner. Later, he replaced aerobics for relaxation once a week and spent the rest of the training time lifting irons. Each time, he tried to push 2.5 kilograms more and do two more movements than the last time. After more than three months, the dimensions were restored, and the bench press increased by 20 kilograms.

Nowadays, there is a lot of debate in the fitness circle about the correlation between the two. Some people say that the upper limit of muscle gain through natural fitness is extremely low, and ordinary people will not be able to achieve a good-looking figure after practicing for a lifetime. Others say that as long as the method is correct, you can train to a level close to a professional in three to five years. In fact, both opinions are a bit extreme. For ordinary men who train naturally, the rate of muscle gain is about 0.8-1.5 kilograms per month in the first year, and then it is almost halved every year. After four or five years of training, you will basically touch the natural ceiling. You will definitely not be able to compare with players who use technology. But if you train to the point where you can hold up your shoulder line when wearing a T-shirt, and have obvious chest muscles and arm lines when you take off your clothes, it can be achieved in one or two years as long as you use the right method. No special talent is needed at all.

Of course, there are a few people who do not specifically go to the gym to exercise and have low muscle mass, such as workers who do heavy physical work all year round, and enthusiasts who do parkour and play street fitness every day. In essence, their daily activities have given their muscles enough resistance stimulation, which is equivalent to "fitness" in a different scene. However, their training is not aimed at muscle hypertrophy, so the muscle dimensions will not be as exaggerated as those of people who specialize in bodybuilding, but the strength and muscle density may be higher.

To put it bluntly, the relationship between the two is a bit like boiling water. Fitness is the fire underneath. You have to heat enough water to boil it. But the fire is too small, it stops after boiling for two times, or the kettle leaks and does not contain enough water. No matter how long it is heated, it will not boil. My feeling after practicing for almost 6 years is that ordinary enthusiasts really don’t have to worry about talent or not. They can perform standard movements every time they train, gradually increase the weight, eat enough 1.6-2.2 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight, and sleep for 7 hours. They can basically get the muscle-building effect they want without paying the IQ tax.