Losing Bodyfat or Gaining Muscle Mass: Which is More Important?

[stef]

by Mark Rippetoe

"This cannot be overemphasized: the older you are, the more important your muscle mass becomes to you, whether you know it or not. If you get sick or hurt, your muscle mass is your bank account for healing up and getting better – the more you have in the bank, the longer you can hold out when things get weird."

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[mdb]

Timely. Thank you for posting.

[Nockian]

Caveats ? Existing Hypertension etc ?

[Mark Rippetoe]

What worries you? Too much muscle?

[Nockian]

What worries you? Too much muscle?

Surely there are instances when it's more important to at least hold the body fat percentage steady whilst also training for more strength ? It hardly matters to most under 35 years, they can go ahead and train without concern, but that's not true for us older guys. This sounds very much like one of those arguments to which the answer is "by X I don't mean Y", but high body fat is a contributory factor to disease in older, untrained people, so therefore doesn't it require a caveat ?

[Mark Rippetoe]

Bodyfat is not a contributor to disease in older untrained people. SITTING ON YOUR ASS is the contributor. Bodyfat is merely a side-effect.

[Nockian]

Bodyfat is not a contributor to disease in older untrained people. SITTING ON YOUR ASS is the contributor. Bodyfat is merely a side-effect.

Part 2 of that equation must be eating in a deficit. You can't get fat by merely sitting on your ass. On this point you are wrong Mark, body fat IS the cause of disease. The cause of body fat is a surplus of calories. Sitting on your ass is also a contributor, both are bad.

[Mark Rippetoe]

Yes, you can get fat by sitting on your ass. Happens to people all the time who don't eat much. Bodyfat is stored calories, and calories do not cause disease. Failing to use the calories causes disease. This is why liposuction patients do not typically show an immediate improvement in heath markers. Your logic is faulty, but believe as you will.

[Nockian]

Yes, you can get fat by sitting on your ass. Happens to people all the time who don't eat much. Bodyfat is stored calories, and calories do not cause disease. Failing to use the calories causes disease. This is why liposuction patients do not typically show an immediate improvement in heath markers. Your logic is faulty, but believe as you will.

Putting aside liposuction which is a medical intervention not part of natural physiology.

Can you get fat sitting on your ass without eating ? Of course not.

The human body is a economic machine which prioritises fat storage. Failing to use calories causes fat storage;too much fat causes disease. As the body prioritises far storage, it's pretty difficult to keep a balance in respect of output in the presence of an abundant food supply which requires almost zero physical effort to obtain. If it weren't for the work on calorie calculation it would prove to be almost impossible to get that balance purely through physical activity.

You know this is true, I don't know why you are trying to deny it. My BP has come back to normal as a consequence of fat loss in the face of being active and lifting 3 times a week for two years. I got stronger, but the additional fat caused my BP to go well above normal. It's a balance. I've now realised I must be as careful with my diet as I am with training, it's simply not sufficient to train hard three times per week.

That's why I suggested caveats-strength training is, in my view, a necessary but not a sufficient cause of improved health. Of course not everyone who has excess body fat is necessarily going to have the same health risks, but to me that's like saying everyone isn't going to have the same risk by smoking-body fat increases the factor for health risk and the biggest culprit is diet.

[Mark Rippetoe]

Okay, Nockian.