Wouldn’t more mass come with more strength? And how is it possible to gain strength without gaining mass?
In: Biology
More mass comes if you have a calorie surplus. You can work out all you want, but if you don’t have enough nutrition to grow, you won’t grow.
Most of getting stronger without getting larger is getting more efficient at recruiting muscle fibers. People will rapidly get stronger in the first several weeks of training, just because they are learning to use their muscles in a coordinated way.
However, there is a huge overlap between getting stronger and getting bigger. This is why there are weight classes in strength sports, and the higher weight classes almost inevitably have bigger records. Muscular strength is very proportional to the cross sectional area of the muscle belly. The best way to increase this is to get bigger.
Latest Answers