(Silly?) Hypothetical question about muscle mass and stagnation

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feathernaut
feathernaut Posts: 66 Member
in Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
Hi,

So I'm wondering - let's say you go from couch to lifting 50 lbs doing X exercise everyday.
Let's say you gain Y amount of muscle from doing this.

If you never add weight, and continue doing the exact same exercise you did to get you to Y, will your muscle remain the same? Or will it deteriorate or get bigger, and why?

Thanks!

Replies

  • trigden1991
    trigden1991 Posts: 4,658 Member
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    No one will be able to answer this.
  • StealthHealth
    StealthHealth Posts: 2,417 Member
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    trigden1991 wrote: »
    No one will be able to answer this.

    Why? I would have thought that the answer was that you would (by and large) stay the same?
  • feathernaut
    feathernaut Posts: 66 Member
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    trigden1991 wrote: »
    No one will be able to answer this.

    Not with that attitude they won't! :)
    But seriously, why do you say that?
  • deannalfisher
    deannalfisher Posts: 5,600 Member
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    I would at a point, the muscle would not respond to the stimuli of the weight any more, so no further gain would be met. However, if you were to change the stimuli (more weight) then you would progress again
  • dhimaan
    dhimaan Posts: 774 Member
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    Is that a falcon or a hawk?
  • feathernaut
    feathernaut Posts: 66 Member
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    dhimaan wrote: »
    Is that a falcon or a hawk?

    A hawk, I think.

    deannalfisher wrote: »
    I would at a point, the muscle would not respond to the stimuli of the weight any more, so no further gain would be met. However, if you were to change the stimuli (more weight) then you would progress again

    That would have been my guess as well. Thanks.
  • Rusty740
    Rusty740 Posts: 749 Member
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    Let's say you grow to be an adult, and walk around a certain amount and your muscles grow to a certain point, and you continue walking around doing the same thing.... then your muscles stay the same. Because the stimulus (weight, volume, frequency) is the same, the response (muscle size, ability to recover, endurance) will be the same.

    Change weight, volume, frequency (input) or sleep, caloric intake (recovery & response) and muscle size will change.
  • CJ_Holmes
    CJ_Holmes Posts: 759 Member
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    This is an interesting question! I always thought if you didn't change your workout you'd stall and plateau, but now I wonder if your muscles will start to shrink.
  • CJ_Holmes
    CJ_Holmes Posts: 759 Member
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    My wife is a coach, she says the muscles will stay the same, possibly you'll would see a slight loss of muscle because they will adapt to the work.
  • feathernaut
    feathernaut Posts: 66 Member
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    Thanks CJ! I appreciate you asking her!

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