Austin Nesties
Dear Community,

Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.

If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.

Thank you.

Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.

Anyone a personal trainer, or know about muscles/weightlifting?

I have a debate going with DH about weightlifting.  He lifted for a long time and put on a really good amount of muscle, but has since gone "off the wagon" of eating right/exercise and now his body fat % is higher.  He feels that the muscle he gained has turned to fat.  He would like to be very muscular/bulky again, if it's just a temporary muscle gain, he doesn't want to bother.  He thinks that if he works out and gains all his muscle back, even if he continues eating right that the muscle will go away if he doesn't continue to lift.

I think he might be wrong, but I'm not sure why I think that. I have no idea how it works.  Does muscle just turn to fat automatically if you're not weightlifting?  FWIW, he is naturally a fairly trim person (he's just put on an extra 15 or so lbs recently so he's not pudgy or anything, just getting a litle soft), and he is also a competitive swimmer and swims on a masters team 3x/week.  I think if he lifts again and continues to eat right, he will lose the fat, gain back the muscle, and keep it, even though he may not continue to put on more muscle if he stops lifting.

Is he right, or am I?  

I should mention that this is all in selfish attempt to get him to bulk up a la Christian Bale in Batman...

image 

Re: Anyone a personal trainer, or know about muscles/weightlifting?

  • I'm not an expert, but from what I've learned, the muscle doesn't turn to fat. The muscle just gets smaller. So when you stop lifting, using the muscles, etc., they shrink (but don't disappear, they're just smaller). Eating improperly (high fat diet) can cause fat to increase, giving the pudgier appearance. So basically, your DH probably has a small, underutilized muscle covered in a layer of fat.  If he gets back into shape, yes he will regain his muscle (quickly too if it hasn't been that long since he used to work out and does a lot of cardio), but to keep the muscle from shrinking again, he would have to keep lifting. To keep off the fat, he'd need to keep up a healthier diet and some cardio.
    We have so much time, and so little to do! Strike that, reverse it.
    My Bio (wedding pics added 7/6)
    My 101
    Lilypie First Birthday tickers
  • ditto, pp!
    Warning No formatter is installed for the format bbhtml
  • ditto pp--the muscle doesn't turn to fat. But if he has muscles, and then gains fat on top of the muscles, it's going to look even bigger (fattier) than if it was just fat on top of no muscles, kwim?

    and ps, I totally just licked my computer screen. Hellooooo Mr. Bale. 

    Dear Bump: You suck.
  • I wish you would have called.  The muscle does not turn to fat.  It changes muscle fiber type and the muscle fibers get smaller with less exercise.  Now given that the diet remains the same, then yes he would put on fat if he was not exercising.  Weight loss happens when calories burned > caloric intake.  

     

    As for gaining muscle...  he would have to continue working out at the same caliber that he was to gain the muscle and monitor his caloric intake.  However, after the age of 50 he would deal with age related sarcopenia, which is when the muscles do get smaller, due to natural age progression.

    " I think if he lifts again and continues to eat right, he will lose the fat, gain back the muscle, and keep it, even though he may not continue to put on more muscle if he stops lifting."  But not because fat turns into muscle, or muscle to fat.  Increases in muscle size would happen because he's losing fat surrounding the muscles and changing the fiber type/fiber size/and number of muscle fibers/cross sectional area.  With less exercise, the reverse happens.  It all goes back to way too much more science than you probably even need, but Id be more than happy to explain more if you need.  Make me feel like my Masters Degree was worth something.


    Bobo says smile!!!!

    image
  • That being said...  I could go on a long dialogue as to why men over the age of 45 should cardio train instead of resistance train due to the damage it causes their hearts and blood vessels.  Surprisingly, it does not happen in women.  But....  Ill bore you some other time.
    Bobo says smile!!!!

    image
  • I know nothing about muscles but Mr. Bale doesn't quite do it for me the way these two do:

    image

    image

  • imageDevil_Ducky:
    That being said...  I could go on a long dialogue as to why men over the age of 45 should cardio train instead of resistance train due to the damage it causes their hearts and blood vessels.  Surprisingly, it does not happen in women.  But....  Ill bore you some other time.

    Actually I find that quite interesting!

  • I don't have input but wanted to say thanks for the yummy pics!
    Warning No formatter is installed for the format bbhtml
  • Muscle doesn't turn in to fat.  You're born with all of the muscle cells you're ever going to have.  When you lift weights, you are tearing muscle.  The muscle repairs itself/grows/becomes stronger/etc. 
Sign In or Register to comment.
Choose Another Board
Search Boards