Muscle Appearance Question

S

sard

New Member
Ok, I have always wondered about this, I hope someone can explain this to me.

First before I begin, I will post the 3 main things people always say and I understand:
1. Looking fit doesnt mean you are fit, and vice versa
2. Muscle "weighs" more than fat...muscle is denser, so it takes up less space, so you will weigh more, but you could look lean.
3. The more cut you are the more in shape/bigger you look.

Ok, I workout but Im not in great physical shape, whatever.
Basically Im built like this guy:
http://fighthaus.com/nucleus/media/1/20060401-jeremy%20horn.jpg

But I never understood how people can look really built but weigh the same as me.
Thats what I dont understand.

Tonight, I was at the gym and saw a guy who was about my height, he was built like this guy:
http://static.flickr.com/51/126390766_b8c27277a8_m.jpg

Pretty different builds.

So I asked him how much he weighed, and he was 175lbs, so he was 5 lbs more than me, but looked and actually was a lot bigger than me.

How could this be?

He was bigger than me (size not height) so shouldnt he weigh a lot more?
If we are going by the "muscle weighs more than fat" theory.

Even if we went with the 'the more cut you are the bigger you look', but I stood next to him, his arms, chest, back, etc all were bigger.
We were about the same in the waist, but thats it.

I dont get this, its not like I have huge legs or anything, so its not like all the weight is in my legs.

Can someone shed some light on this.

Thanks!
 
Hey another MMA fan in the house!
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Question... doesn't Matt Hughes do the Drop Water weight for the weigh in thing?

alot of guys actually walk around bigger than the weight the check in at on the day of the weigh in
 
Genetics play a huge role...so to answer your question briefly...thats the answer.

Secondly unless you see someone weigh....they could be lying...it happens a lot.

Third...find out what type of bodytype you have and play to its advantage.

Take myself for example....I cut from around 190 to 170 this summer and still did not have good abs...and this was at below 8 percent bodyfat.

My genetics just are not there for a washbourd midsection....however that being said I can carry lots of mass and look really athletic...so for me I need to go with carring more muscle and looking inshape and I have to realize I will never look like a menshealth cover model.....and IF I did I would have to loose way more weight..which prob would mean losing some muscle.
 
Rakki:
>> Question... doesn't Matt Hughes do the Drop Water weight for the weigh in thing?
>>

Yes he does.
He weighs around 190ish normally when he is not fighting.

But dont pay attention to just the example...
Look at both the bodies from the picture, if they were the same height, how could they be the same weight?
One guy is bigger and more cut, so he has more muscles, but with more muscle (and size) then he should weigh more than the guy who is a bit more "flabby"...but he doesnt.


Joe.Muscle:
>>My genetics just are not there for a washbourd midsection....however that being said I can carry lots of mass and look really athletic...so for me I need to go with carring more muscle and looking inshape
>>


Im not sure Im making my question clear.
Its not just appearance.

Joe - imagine meeting someone who was the same height as you, but had less bodyfat (much more cut), and was 20% bigger than you.
But you guys weighed the same....how could that be possible?

The guy looked and WAS bigger than me. But yet we were about the same weight.
If he was bigger and more cut than me, he should have weighed more than me.


Ok, lets say this way.

2 people are the same height and the same weight.

Guy 1 - chest 45 inches, arms - 16 inches, waist - 32
Guy 2 - Chest 42 inches, arms - 13 inches, waist - 32

How could this be?
Guy 1 is bigger, but yet they weigh the same.
 
Surely if he had a lot less bodyfat that would effect his overall weight also. So if he had 5-15lbs less fat than you and weighs 5lb more then thats 10-20lbs more lean mass than you. Even though it wouldnt take as much muscle as fat to make up the 10-20lbs id think itd still have a decent effect on his appearance?
 
carb loaded, cell volumised, expanded ribcage, bone structure, an ol' sock down the pants trick... not forgetting genetics (as already mentioned) and type of training etc
But to be honest it's probably more to do with visceral fat; in that the equivalent weight of lost VF, is re-distributed about his frame in "muscle" weight
 
I don't really see where the confusion is? The guy is carrying around more muscle and less fat, so obviously he will look bigger and his measurements for arms, chest, etc will be bigger than a guy of the same weight but poorer body composition.

There is a guy at work who weighs the same as me but he doesn't work out. Unsurprisingly, he looks smaller than me because his arms are tiny, he has no traps, a sunken in chest and a distended gut. That's kind of what you would expect. Fat gets stacked onto different areas of the body than muscle, so the areas you are looking at would be bigger on the guy with more lean mass. Most people don't store much fat in their traps, after all, compared to their midsection.
 
weight fluctuates based on some other things.

could've been you hadn't pooped? or maybe the guy just did? the body stores from 6-10 pounds of biomass.

or it could how he stores the fat. I've got a friend who has like 14% body fat (no visible 6pac) but stores that fat really well and looks otherwise built besides not having the 6 pac.
 
Another is bone density. I myself am one of the one-in-a-thousand negatively bouyant people. I can take a deep breath, jump in, and I'll sink like a rock. I don't look like I weigh 210, but I do. At least I don't think so, because people WAY fatter than I are lighter than me.
 
i'm not the heaviest of people i weigh in around 75kg not sure what that is in pounds i think its around 165lbs with 3 to 4% bodyfat without cutting or dieting just always been lean, and i work in a gym as a PT and when regulars see me working out they always comment on how big i am and these guys weigh around 80 upto 90kg yet i look the same size as them if not slightly bigger. and its always confused me???
oh and i'm with Quadancer with the whole floating issue.... people can always find me easily in a pool... i'm on the bottom.....
smile.gif
 
Leanness and good muscle definition also give the "illusion" of being a lot bigger too. Not saying he isnt (which he obviously is) but he probably _looks_ a lot bigger than his weight would suggest otherwise - just like Webbers example (not saying you're a weakling Webber!
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biggrin.gif
).
 
sard

one thing to keep in mind is all of this is coming from YOUR perpective. since your photo examples were of other people with similar builds (in YOUR opinion) there is no real way for us to draw the same conclusions as you did. 50$ says your opinion of this guy in the gym is way higher than the opinion he has of himself.

this isnt to say your not totally off base on the comparison but its safe to say we all usually downplay our strengths and focus on our weaknesses yet many times do the opposite when eval. others.

another "not completely unrelated" aspect could be the "shape" some have. by this i mean muscle proportion when taking in the whole package. as an example i can think of all the noise generated a few yrs back with brad pitt and the shape he was in for fight club. women swooned and guys all wanted to know what his workout was etc. etc. in the cold light of reality he was @ 160lbs and prob. 5-7% bf which is easily (relative) attainable to anyone willing to apply themselves so what was the big deal. imo it was his shape. decent delts, full chest, good traps and at least some semblence of muscle in all the other areas. 160lbs is not big by any means but if you can diet down to single digits and maintain muscle, especially in the shoulder girdle area(chest,trap,delt) then your 160 will look a hell of a lot more impressive then most others 160 (although youll disappear in a t-shirt).
 
appearences can be deceptive,differences in body fat,bone density and how much water weight you carry can severly affect overall weight and size.a guy at teh gym asked me how big were my arms,i usually dont measure but as it happened i did just after my last sd,so i said 17" 1/4 and he said that cant be mine are 17" also.i was reluctent to say but had to point out that he had a body % of around 20-25% while i am @ 14% at the moment,he still didnt get it.
 
bluejacket:
"your photo examples were of other people with similar builds (in YOUR opinion) there is no real way for us to draw the same conclusions as you did. 50$ says your opinion of this guy in the gym is way higher than the opinion he has of himself."
>>

Maybe, but I think my build is similiar to the first guy...in decent shape compared to the average guy, but not the shape that the average person thinks of when you say "I work out"
The second picture is similiar to how the guy I saw in the gym looked.


>>"can think of all the noise generated a few yrs back with brad pitt and the shape he was in for fight club. ...in the cold light of reality he was @ 160lbs and prob. 5-7% bf which is easily ...imo it was his shape. decent delts, full chest, good traps and at least some semblence of muscle in all the other areas. >>

Thats similiar to what I mean, when Fight Club came out everyone said 'Brad Pitt has a great body', then people on the workout forums all said "Hes tiny, he is just cut, hes like 150 soaking wet"

That could be true, but what I dont get is he has a fuller chest, shoulder, arms than me. (I am assuming since I dont see him in person)

The only place I am bigger is waist but yet I am heavier than him?
Can fat in the waist really weigh that much? My waist is about 32, so its not like I am carrying 50lbs of fat there.
----

Ok, here is my pic (dont laugh) ignore the dots, it was a case of poison ivy
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l74/jkd_guy/1.jpg

Here is how the guy at the gym looked (this is not him but a good example):
http://seansherk.com/G2....umber=2

We are about the same height.
He had a bigger chest, arms and lats than me. Our waist were about the same size (mine is 32) but his was "tighter" than mine. (so I was fatter)

My legs are skinny anyway, so lets assume our lower body is the same.
Ok - so he has a chest/arms/lats that are 20% bigger than mine, we are the same size in the waist and legs...but yet he is only 5lbs heavier than me?

He was more cut than me, so he has a lower bf%....if that is the case, wouldnt he weigh EVEN MORE than me?
Since "muscle weighs more than fat" - in other words muscle is more dense than fat - takes up less room.

But he took up MORE room than me AND had more muscle (he had lower bf%), same height but only weighed 5 lbs more than me.

Weird....I would expect him to be at least 185 easily.

oh by the way the guy in the picture is about 170lbs and 5'7 - that makes sense to me.
Hes 3 inches shorter but the same weight as me because he has so much more muscle than me (the whole muscle weighs more than fat theory)
 
sard

i think your getting too hung up on actual wgt vs appearance vs shape etc. weve all seen examples of what your talking about and i just think its probably a combination of many factor already mentioned by myself and others.

if hes carrying 15 more lbs of muscle yet 10 less lbs of fat then you that would equal a statistical 5lbs diff. but visually he would look much more impressive.

if those 15lbs of muscle were strategically located it would also make a big diff. take just the 5 extra lbs your talking about. spread that over traps and delts an no one will ask if you lift or not.

fat is stored differantly in each of us

bone density can be differant in each of us

here is another example for you. my brother and i weigh the same at the same hgt and a 2yr age diff. he has never lifted a day in his life and from the waist up it looks it. not skinny but real soft and no signif. muscle size or definition. his quads and calfs are real solid though. strong and thick yet he has never really done anything to achieve it. im the opposite. i feel i look like i lift, not huge but you can tell i work out. the legs look ok but cannot compare to my bro in size or thickness. we weigh the same etc etc and even come from the same gene pool but couldnt carry 200lbs any more differant then if we tried.

try not to stress out about it too much. as my old track coach used to say "the only training you can do is your own. worrying about what the other guy is doing isnt going to change it."
 
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