Shouldnt large people be jacked just from simply moving around with the extra weight? Im talking about muscle mass here and not fat content. Thanks
In: Biology
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Fat guy here, and in addition to what other people have said, I just want to point out that when we talk about how muscular someone is, we are often thinking about body parts that have relatively little to do with moving around. It’s not like my upper body has much to do with moving around, and how much muscle there is up there primarily depends on my exercise routine and not my daily life. On the other hand, my legs have a lot more muscle, especially my thighs, because that is what I’m moving around with, and if you put me on a leg press machine, I can do a lot more weight than the average person. But thighs tend to be the least visible part of a person’s body, and someone who is overweight may also have an extra layer of fat on them, so you may not even realize that they are particularly muscular there. Also, even then, if someone doesn’t spend much time standing or walking, there’s nothing to say they will have much extra muscle even from that. If your life is bed, office chair, couch, bed, you’re not moving around much.
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They could be somewhat more muscular, assuming that they’re moving that weight around a lot. Which they typically aren’t. Sometimes you can tell when they do start going to the gym, and they have a head start over skinny guys. That’s also a bit misleading, because skinny guys need to eat a lot to gain muscle, which they usually don’t, and fat guys don’t have that problem.
But there’s a limit to how much extra muscle you get. They’re moving the same amount of weight all the time. If you go to the gym and pick up some dumbbells, your body will adapt to that stress over the next couple of days. If you go back and do the same amount of the same exercise with the same dumbbells, eventually your body won’t adapt to it anymore because it’s not a new amount of stress. Kind of like how the same half-hour of sun a day eventually stops making you darker.
If you want to get stronger at standing up from a chair, you might have to squat in 3 sets of 5 repetitions, adding 5 lbs three times a week. Getting your muscles visually bigger usually takes heavy sets of 10-12 reps. That’s not a natural amount of standing up for a sedentary person, even ignoring the fact that they’re always using the same weight.
Extreme high volume at the same low intensity isn’t always the answer either. That’s what marathon runners do, and their muscles don’t get big at all.
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Obese people use those muscles to do exactly what you said, OP: move around a lot of extra weight. So it’s like asking someone to run while already carrying a cupboard . It’s too much.
That’s why some trainers ask people who have lost some weight to carry that same weight in a backpack for a mile: just to realize how much was weighing them down is eye-opening and helps them keeping the extra pounds away.
I was near 400lbs at my heaviest in my early 20s, and well over 300lbs most of my life until the last year or so. My legs are jacked from carrying my fat around all those years, for sure.
So yes, it can be the case. My upper body, though? Weaker than a bowl of mush.
Their legs tend to be much stronger, but the joints in the legs are usually in pretty bad shape.
You’re assuming that they move around as much as the average person.
There are at least two reasons why that probably isn’t true.
It’s harder for obese people to move around and people tend to do less of things that are difficult.
People who like to move around a lot are less likely to be obese.
I have two brothers, one is 5’5 and skinny/average build, one is 6’0 and close to 400 lbs, we often go through spurts of self improvement in the gym.
Me and my larger bro can put on muscle just thinking about lifting weight while the skinnier bro has to try a little harder and eat a little more to match the same kind of growth.
On the other hand when it comes time to cut weight and lose the fat thats covering our muscle we are totally fucked, and will struggle to let go of mass.
And even if we do cut down and drop weight our muscle goes too. However the skinnier bro has no issue and keeps most of his muscle.
Also mine and the heavier bros legs are chiseled by the gods themselves due to being fat but constantly riding 20+ miles on a bike with hills.
I see a lot of former fat people with huge calves and quads from having to lift our fat asses and walk around.
Edit: just want to emphasize a little just how massive my larger bros calves are. I was behind him going up a hill on a ride together the other day and glanced down, his calves under load and pumped are larger than most pro body builders biceps. Ngl im jealous.
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