eli5: why is it that fatter/bigger people in general have an easier time gaining strength and putting on muscle than skinny people?

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This is not the place to give any measurements, so I’ll just say I was fat 7 months ago and I’m not anymore.

I put on a lot of muscle mass while losing quite some fat, so I can lift rather heavy (on my own perspective), but when I mock my friends about lifting more than them even though they’ve been training for years they all go “well, you used to be fat” or “that’s easier for you because you were bigger” and I have come to understand that’s just how it works because of the Internet too, but I don’t really know why.

I don’t know if it’s the language causing a misunderstanding here, but when I say “mock” I mean we joke with each other playfully in a way that everyone’s comfortable with.

In: Biology

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Anonymous 0 Comments

One aspect of the answer that I haven’t seen mentioned is this: you say “I put on a lot of muscle mass while losing quite some fat,” but how are you judging that? The differences in musculature you’re noticing are also including the fact that you’re shedding fat and therefore revealing any muscle mass you might have. But more importantly, if you’re just going off the fact that you can lift heavier now – that’s not exclusively muscular growth. In fact, in your first year of lifting or so, increases in strength are largely neurological, not physical. You’re lifting heavier because you’re learning how to lift. Your coordination, muscle fiber recruitment, proprioception, etc are all improving and leading to strength gains. I know this doesn’t get at your question directly, but it’s part of what’s happening.

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