Re:From Mr Average to Superman: Craig Davidson's account of ...
by dredmorbius on Wednesday September 04, 2013 @04:25AM
(#6326274)
Muscle is what gives your body its ability to move. It's involved in the endocrine system (as this rather crappy article illustrates), it is heavily involved in your metabolism and energy levels, especially including blood-sugar regulation. Building muscle, engaging in regular physical activity (lifting and cardio), and eating healthily (minimal processed carbs) will greatly reduce your likelihood of developing metabolic syndrome and (type II) diabetes. Many people can control T2 diabetes completely through strength training and exercise.
It also helps in injury avoidance, improves your posture (assuming you're training in a whole-body mode, not just chest+biceps). Load-bearing strength training also strengthens bones, joints, and connective tissue. And you can pick up heavy shit and not get tired.
As you get older, starting in your 30s for most people, your body is losing muscle mass at the rate of about a pound every year or two (this is called "sarcopenia"). Eventually this starts effecting your body's ability to regulate body fat, and though your weight may not change, your body composition does, with fat tissue increasing as your muscle wanes.
Most people look better with more muscle rather than more fat, if you're into vanity.
And you should end up with a much better appreciation with how your body works and responds to training, diet, and recovery.
you have to feed it and lug it around.
Well, yeah, there is that feeding it. But you've got to eat anyhow. You might be boosting your caloric intake by a few hundred calories -- a cup of oats or so.
if your lifestyle and diet doesn't match your newly grown muscle tissue the body will adjust and all your effort to grow it will be gone in few weeks/months.
So long as you continue to train, your body will retain most of its gains. It's easier to retain muscle than it is to grow it, so lifting only once a week or even once every two weeks may be sufficient. But yes, it is a lifestyle committment -- your body is what you do with it.
And you seem not to be grasping the point: your muscle is the part of you that does the lugging. More of it makes things easier not harder.
As for my own experience, I'd found that adding strength training to my routine has helped me in many ways. It's more than worth the time and commitment. And though I've never sought artificial enhancement, my results have been more than satisfactory.
It also helps in injury avoidance, improves your posture (assuming you're training in a whole-body mode, not just chest+biceps). Load-bearing strength training also strengthens bones, joints, and connective tissue. And you can pick up heavy shit and not get tired.
As you get older, starting in your 30s for most people, your body is losing muscle mass at the rate of about a pound every year or two (this is called "sarcopenia"). Eventually this starts effecting your body's ability to regulate body fat, and though your weight may not change, your body composition does, with fat tissue increasing as your muscle wanes.
Most people look better with more muscle rather than more fat, if you're into vanity.
And you should end up with a much better appreciation with how your body works and responds to training, diet, and recovery.
you have to feed it and lug it around.
Well, yeah, there is that feeding it. But you've got to eat anyhow. You might be boosting your caloric intake by a few hundred calories -- a cup of oats or so.
if your lifestyle and diet doesn't match your newly grown muscle tissue the body will adjust and all your effort to grow it will be gone in few weeks/months.
So long as you continue to train, your body will retain most of its gains. It's easier to retain muscle than it is to grow it, so lifting only once a week or even once every two weeks may be sufficient. But yes, it is a lifestyle committment -- your body is what you do with it.
And you seem not to be grasping the point: your muscle is the part of you that does the lugging. More of it makes things easier not harder.
There are a lot of good basic guides. Liam Rosen's Health & Fitness guide lays out the basics: http://www.liamrosen.com/fitness.html
"Everything You Know About Fitness Is a Lie" is another excellent intro: http://www.mensjournal.com/everything-you-know-about-fitness...
As for my own experience, I'd found that adding strength training to my routine has helped me in many ways. It's more than worth the time and commitment. And though I've never sought artificial enhancement, my results have been more than satisfactory.