eli5 When does someone stop progressing physically

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I’ve been working out a lot more recently and I’ve been noticing how I gotten stronger and faster. When does this end or does it end at all. If I continue to keep progressing theoretically wouldn’t I eventually be able to lift the earth?

In: Biology

4 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

Nope. You’re extrapolating a linear relationship out of something that doesn’t happen linearly.

Yes, if you were to get equally strong over any equivalent time period, you would get obscenely strong very quickly. However, this doesn’t happen. The time it takes to go from a 100 lb bench to 125 is shorter than the time to go from 200 to 225, which is shorter than the time to go from 225-250. Even if you never “stop progressing” your advancement will slow down, and that’s okay.

Anonymous 0 Comments

What flavor of post workout edibles are you taking?

Anonymous 0 Comments

From the math side there are many functions that are monotonically increasing (each value is bigger than the one before it) but still asymptotic (they approach but never reach a value). Logistic functions are an easily googlable example.
Think of it like Zenos paradox: every month you put in at the gym you’ll will increase the amount of weight you can loft by (500 pounds – your current lift)/2. You start off lifting 0 pounds, then you can lift 250, then 375, then 437.5. You can always lift more, but you will never hit 500. Also, you’ll eventually get old and start to lose muscle mass but someone else will need to comment on that.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world.
Archimedes