eli5: Why do people who are actually strong look different than bodybuilders who train all week?
In: Biology
To continue upon other’s content, functional labor doesn’t make you look strong. It just makes you strong.
Example: I spent a full summer picking up things that weighed around 100 pounds. All day, every day. I was on heavy crew. In the course of a day, I’d lift an odd sized object weighing about 80 lbs about 1,000 times a day. I was strong as hell. It was a pot yard nursery so I was working 10 gallon which are soaked in and there’s a big ass tree in it as well. They are heavy and awkward. By the end, I was lifting them like picking up a cat.
I went back to the gym when college was back in session. I had no problems moving 100lb weights with one hand and setting them. It was like picking up a box of cereal to me.
Then I went to do some bench curls. I was no stronger than before. I could pick up 250 lbs to my chest like it was nothing, but I still only curled 70 lbs on a bent bar.
Bottom line, the pretty muscles don’t seem to do any real work. The big muscles take the weight. Also, your own mass makes a difference. You don’t get skinny when you do heavy labor. You have a gut that looks like fat but it’s all muscle. It ain’t pretty, but you need it.
You also need the fat for energy when you’re really working hard. I’ve lost 4 lbs in a day from heavy labor. Granted, that’s mostly sweat, but the fat gives you reserve energy. Without the reserve, you’ll tank out.
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