: Why is it easier/faster to gain muscle mass when you have a higher amount of body fat.
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You need 100 X, 100 Y and 100 Z to build muscle. Fat person eats all day and night. They have 5000 X, 5000 Y and 5000 Z available. If they work out, the body will use some of the 5000XYZ to build muscle.
Non-excessive eater has 75X , 125 Y and 90Z from the food they ate that day. If they work out, body will build muscle, but not as fast or efficiently because there isn’t enough XYZ in the tank.
Edit: Nothing to do with the amount of fat you have. “Fat” people tend to eat more than they need, which turns into fat.
because moving around with an extra 200lbs causes you to gain muscle by simply doing every day activities (especially in the legs). whereas if you’re not carrying around an extra 200lbs, you have to purposely do activities where you move extra weight around (ie go to the gym).
There’s a lot of factors that play into it, but some is just illusion.
Heavier folks usually have a little bit more muscle and general sense of strength since they’re used to moving more weight around naturally, so they can start off lifting a little heavier than very slim folks.
The muscle will build faster than the fat will dissolve, making it appear that they are making great gains compared to their starting physique.
Insulin resistance when you start to get in shape once you start lifting/working out, you’re immediately combating those negative effects; If you’re being consistent with your workouts then all the caloric energy will be redirected at making muscle instead and the fat making process will slow way down because you will begin using nutrients more efficiently.
So another factor attached to that is that skinnier folks can lose their gains more easily because they have fewer calories stored on board to work with.
But that’s about where the short term benefits end. Skinnier folks are able to build lean body mass a lot faster because they don’t have all of the body processes to overcome first. Think of it like a ‘the tortoise vs the hare’ type situation.
I don’t think this statement is true. There’s a certain level where you’re body is going to be better at putting muscle on, I think it’s like 20-25%. Above that and you’re overweight and that screws with hormones. Under that and you probably don’t have the nutrients on hand to make muscle.
You could probably make an argument that a heavier person is used to consuming the many extra calories that are needed to build muscle, because it takes a lot
You need excess energy to build muscle, if you are overweight then you have plenty of stored energy in the form of fat.
If someone at a very low body fat wanted to build more muscle then they would need to consume extra calories for the energy since they don’t have the stored energy that the overweight person has.
Having a higher body fat and gaining muscle are not really related. However, it is easier to gain muscle mass when in a caloric surplus than a caloric deficit, so gaining muscle quickly usually results in some fat gain as well.
This is kind of a misleading statement. I guess one could argue if you have a lot of body fat you will likely already be eating in a calorie surplus, so in this sense yes it might be easier to add muscle vs. someone who is in a caloric deficit.
In reality, not much of your body functions in an “ideal” way if you have a ton of body fat. This includes your hormone production of things like hgh and testosterone, which are very big factors in muscle production. So in reality, you are in a much better position to gain muscle around 8-12% body fat than say 20-25%, all else considered equal.
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