BMI?

ythannah

richardgavel wrote: »

Theoldguy1 wrote: »

Mellouk89 wrote: »

Can you even build substantial muscle mass with manual labor?

I've worked pretty tough jobs, none of the people I worked with were particularly buff. Unless they did some type of training on the side.

You can build muscle with manual labor jobs. The "buff" part is how lean they look and that has to do with diet/excess calories.

Bricklayers. roofers, landscapers, farmers. Many of these jobs build muscle.

But doesn't that ignore the fact that to build muscle you have to progressively continue to increase the amount of weight? The bricks don't get heavier.

So what happens if you stop increasing the weight and just keep lifting the same weight? Do you lose muscle or do you maintain it?

I'm guessing the manual labourers achieve a certain level of "buff" and then just stay there, if nothing changes.

RunsWithBees

I wanted to give another perspective on the subject of BMI, not just physical appearance. When I was BMI 30 I had health issues that included liver pain which turned out to be the beginnings of Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease. My liver enzymes were in the high 50’s, that’s what made me get my act together and finally lose weight in a sustainable manner. When I was about halfway to my goal and had lost 21 lbs with a BMI 26.5 my liver enzymes were in the 30’s which is still higher than normal but improving. When I reached my goal and lost a total of 43 lbs and achieved a BMI of 23.3 my enzymes were in the teens to low 20’s right where they should be for a healthy liver. I’ve maintained my healthy weight for 7+ years and every year my liver enzymes still test normal. This proves to me that (at least in my case) my liver damage measured through liver enzyme levels correlated directly with my BMI and improved the closer I got to a normal BMI. Just my experience

AnnPT77

ythannah wrote: »

richardgavel wrote: »

Theoldguy1 wrote: »

Mellouk89 wrote: »

Can you even build substantial muscle mass with manual labor?

I've worked pretty tough jobs, none of the people I worked with were particularly buff. Unless they did some type of training on the side.

You can build muscle with manual labor jobs. The "buff" part is how lean they look and that has to do with diet/excess calories.

Bricklayers. roofers, landscapers, farmers. Many of these jobs build muscle.

But doesn't that ignore the fact that to build muscle you have to progressively continue to increase the amount of weight? The bricks don't get heavier.

So what happens if you stop increasing the weight and just keep lifting the same weight? Do you lose muscle or do you maintain it?

I'm guessing the manual labourers achieve a certain level of "buff" and then just stay there, if nothing changes.

Within a certain range, the worker probably becomes more valuable by carrying more bricks (per trip, or more/faster trips) as s/he becomes stronger. That would be in effect more weight, or higher reps, so progressive. It's got to top out somewhere, though, as a practical matter.

He doesn't look all that buff, but I'm betting that's plenty heavy, and if that's going up ladders he's not skipping leg day.

richardgavel

ythannah wrote: »

richardgavel wrote: »

Theoldguy1 wrote: »

Mellouk89 wrote: »

Can you even build substantial muscle mass with manual labor?

I've worked pretty tough jobs, none of the people I worked with were particularly buff. Unless they did some type of training on the side.

You can build muscle with manual labor jobs. The "buff" part is how lean they look and that has to do with diet/excess calories.

Bricklayers. roofers, landscapers, farmers. Many of these jobs build muscle.

But doesn't that ignore the fact that to build muscle you have to progressively continue to increase the amount of weight? The bricks don't get heavier.

So what happens if you stop increasing the weight and just keep lifting the same weight? Do you lose muscle or do you maintain it?

I'm guessing the manual labourers achieve a certain level of "buff" and then just stay there, if nothing changes.

It is possible to lose lean mass, as many of us have unfortunately found, under the right conditions. Too large of a deficit, not enough protein, and the body will break down some muscle for energy. I believe this is true even if you weight train as it will break down more lean mass than it builds.