What are the relationships between male fitness and muscle gain

Men's fitness and muscle gain have never been bound to a cause-and-effect relationship. Muscle gain is only one of many optional goals for men's fitness. To achieve the effect of muscle gain, scientific and targeted fitness behaviors must be the core support.

I once took a junior student who just entered college. He went to the gym three times a week with the idea that "boys need to develop eight-pack abs with unicorn arms". Every time, he would randomly make up the number of sets with his friends. After the training, he would go to the school gate to eat barbecue and drink iced Coke. In three months, he gained three kilograms in weight, and his body fat rate increased by two points. His arms were still soft when pinched, and there was no trace of any muscles. He also wondered, "Can't men build muscles by exercising?"

It’s no wonder he has this misunderstanding. Nowadays, when discussing men’s fitness on the Internet, the default goal is to build muscle. The two sides often quarrel with each other: one group says that men’s natural testosterone levels are more than ten times that of women. As long as they can move and eat enough meat, it is natural for them to gain muscle. There is no need to be so meticulous about the chapter; the other group says that ordinary men who work out naturally will not be able to gain a few pounds of pure muscle no matter how talented they are in a year. 90% of men who go to the gym only train cardiopulmonary and endurance exercises. At most, they lose fat and have nothing to do with muscle gain.

In fact, both statements are reasonable, depending on your definition of "muscle gain". If you just want to have a little more muscle mass and a taller body than before, then doing more strength training and eating two more eggs will have an effect. I used to have a colleague who was sedentary in the office. He did 20 push-ups at home after get off work every day. After three months, the problem of shoulder sloping has improved a lot, and his arms have become tighter. He himself feels that he has "succeeded in gaining muscle"; but if he is doing obvious training When practicing or even competing, every step of fitness must be centered around building muscle. I know a friend who practices natural bodybuilding. The number of sets, reps, and intervals of each movement on training days are calculated on a table. He needs to eat 2g of protein per kilogram of body weight every day. He doesn't even dare to stay up late, for fear that cortisol will rise and lose muscle. At this time, his fitness behavior is completely in service of the goal of building muscle.

Many people tend to take the welfare period of newbies who are new to fitness as evidence that it is easy to build muscle. After practicing in the first month or two, they think that the weight gained by three to five kilograms is all muscle. In fact, most of it is glycogen and water stored in the muscles. Really, pure muscle growth is slower than expected. An ordinary man who has been doing natural fitness for two years and can accumulate 10 kilograms of pure muscle is considered a first-tier talent. To put it bluntly, the relationship between the two is like driving and going to Tibet. You can go anywhere by driving a car. If your goal is to go to Tibet, then you have to plan a route, prepare supplies, and choose the right car model. If you are driving to get off work and buy groceries, it is normal that you cannot reach Tibet. Is there any truth that "men can definitely go to Tibet if they drive"?