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2002/08/26, 03:17 PM
When people talk about bulking or toning, I always assumed this was a matter of FAT. You inevitably gain some fat through diet while you're building muscles; once you feel you have enough muscle mass, you then focus on losing bodyfat simply to make your existing muscles more visible.
My question is, is there also an issue of muscle SHAPE? I mean, as far as I know, a particular muscle develops into only one SHAPE; it's only a matter of SIZE. High reps/low weight just means you're burning fat as you build muscle, not affecting the actual shape of the muscle....right? There's really no such thing as "better defined" muscle tissue...but rather the "appearance" of definition due to low bodyfat. Or am I totally wrong?
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2002/08/26, 07:29 PM
You do have a point when you say your muscles have that more "defined" look, simply because of the lower bodyfat. However, you can contribute to the "shape" of the muscle as it becomes more defined. Case in point, biceps (as an example). You can continue to work on "the peak" and as you lower your bodyfat level, the peak actually looks "fuller."
So, I would have to say it is an issue of shape, as well as definition through lowering bodyfat.
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**_Robert_**
Pain is temporary; glory is forever!
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2002/08/27, 11:38 AM
That makes sense Robert. I guess there are many smaller muscles as well as the main muscle groups we are all familiar with. I just read in a bb encyclopedia that there are about 640 muscles in the human body. I guess that's why the more diversified your exercises are, the more of these individual muscles you can develop.
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2002/08/29, 11:05 PM
Well you hardly never see any of those big guys on ESPN lifting competitions with the double bicept, they usualyl hafto be really lean like Ronnie Coleman, Is the double bicept a real muscle, or just a really ripped bicept?
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2002/08/30, 10:59 AM
When they say "double bicep" it usually means a particular pose for bodybuliding copmetition. What you are thinking is most likely that extra hump on the bicep? That is more often a genetic trait, though with hard training and a good diet you can get somthing close to it.
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Life comes by only once....Live it to the fullest!
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2002/08/31, 02:38 AM
Hmmm lol double biceps means the TWO arms in the same time!!!!
Look under the competition guide here at FT and you'll find all the poses.
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- Nina :o) Les Victoires éternelles sont celles du coeur.
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2002/08/31, 08:55 AM
Bretto, I think you hit the nail on the head. I think people are mislead by trying to isolate to "shape" their muscles. If you develope a muscle fully, which would be through solid compound exercises, when you get lean, the defnition will be there. It is possible to make the muscle grow, but you cannot change the "shape" of the muscle. You can't think that if you have 20 inch biceps, if you take a 20 lb. weight and do lots of isolation curls you are going to grow some kind of little peak on top of the bicep!
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