Let's say you get stronger, but don't eat...

[Chthonian]

This has been on my mind for some time, and I can not seem to find an answer. Let's assume we take a lifter who has a squat of 300, a bench of 200, and a row of 195. Now let's say he's about 180, and not near his potential in terms of size OR strength.

Said lifter gets put on a routine, such as Bill Starr's 5x5 Dual-Factor Method. He eats maintenance, never quite getting in enough food to grow. Regardless, he adds, over the course of time, 150 lbs. to his squat, 90 lbs. to his bench, and 85 lbs. to his row, giving us a squat of 450, a bench of 290, and a row of 270.

Obviously, without a caloric surplus, he would not have gained any weight. Now, usually if one is eating enough, size gains can accompany strength gains.

What happens, however, when a scenario such as this presents itself? All that strength was gained, yet there wasn't an abundance of calories to support muscle growth. Would this person have a "spurt" of growth once they started eating over maintenance, and make up for all that lost time and hypertrophy? Or is it forever lost?

I never quite understood this, and I really would like this issue to be quelled once and for all.

 

[BIZ]

So, hypothetically, his muscles (force production capabilities, motor control, etc...) adapted without having to grow, so there would be no need to grow as surplus calories were introduced. Not saying growth would not occur, but conventional thinking would dictate that growth would not be necessary unless he continued to progress the load after the intro of a caloric surplus.

 

[Chthonian]

That's a very good point, and a very simple one at that. I'm not sure if that's it entirely, but it sounds very accurate. After all, muscle is a hefty expense to the body, and you're right in saying that if there was no need previously, there wouldn't be any grand need afterwards.

 

[Heavy Duty dude]

As far as I know being at caloric maintenance doesn't prevent the RBE from happening. So a system that tries to alternate strength training - say low reps for 1 month with no caloric surplus- with hypertrophy training - say medium reps for 1 month with more calories - is unlikely to work.