More bodyfat equals more strength gains

[progressiveman1]

If it's true that the independent act of eating a surplus of calories leads to an increase in muscle/strength, then isn't the ideal amount of calories to eat while strength training an unlimited amount? For example, everything equal, one person adds 20lbs of bf, the other adds 10lbs of bf. The one who added 20lbs will be stronger. And the pattern continues; someone who adds 30lbs of bf will be stronger than the one who added 20lbs, etc. Is this true?

[Mark Rippetoe]

Probably. But this pisses the Conventional Wisdom people off so bad that it won't have a forum anyplace but here. It just doesn't sound healthy.

[LaHabra]

Maybe if you told people that getting over 200 lbs will make your dick bigger, there wouldnt be so many problems with gaining a little body fat.

[tescott]

I saw an interview with Scott Mendelsson, where he talks about his latest WR bench attempt. He is at a much lower BW, and says he's stronger than ever before. His main point is that you still have to carry that extra 100lb, or whatever, down to the bottom of a squat and lift it up again...

Then again, none of us are Scott Mendelsson..

[lylemcd]

The last time I looked fat didn't lift weight so I'm not sure where your assumption is going.

Certainly eating enough to sustain training (but not UNLIMITED, that's just absurd) is important and that often results in some fat gain. But getting fat fucked is fairly stupid from a health and performance standpoint.

Pound for pound, superheavies in OL and PL are weaker than their leaner brethren. The weight they gain absolutely does NOT linearly increase their strength.

[gordonrumble]

At the same time though, is getting a bit stronger worth being obese for most people?

[MattOne1]

Well, what if there is 2 people training. One eating a great amount of calories but only through starchy foods and sweets. And another on a a more balanced diet (each meal containing a decent amount of protein, fats, and carbs). Now, even if the person eating the starchy foods was actually eating more overall calories than the other, does this mean he would actually gain more strength? (all other things being equal)

[Jake Galgon]

Presumably nobody weighing in at 800 lbs is going to have much of a squat.

Might be able to do a hell of a belly-bump bench though.

[Ian Kovtunovich]

I know I'm far from the biggest eater on here, but I gather from reading various posts on the topic that one reaches a practical ceiling to caloric intake. I recall at least a few people mentioning that they had to just force themselves to keep eating, as well as a humorous anecdote by I think it was Dave Tate (?) about eating an entire large pizza slathered in olive oil, in one sitting. Yeesh!

Also, it seems to me that at the point you are adding fat, you are already intaking a surplus. It doesn't make sense to me that further increasing the surplus would result in any additional gains, any more than overfilling your gas tank and then continuing to let fuel run out would help you drive farther. Maybe skewing the composition of the surplus intake could make that intake more effective, though?

On that note, I just finished the "OMG" burger for lunch from a local food cart. Burger with ham, spam, bacon, fried egg, American cheese, and the usual burger fixin's. Greasy protein and savage calories, and fucking tasty to boot!

[kziwarrior]

The only thing I would caution in your example is the use of 'lbs' of bf with no apparent representation of overall weight (i.e. bf% or other means). If one person gains 10# of bf but looses or maintains body-weight while another person gains 10# of bf and gains 15#+ of overall body-weight which do you think has gained more muscle and strength.

That said I completely agree that people put way to much emphasis on bf numbers and calories. Especially when they are trying to gain strength. But then most people are misinformed in much of what they think they know about health and training.

Coach, new site (well, new to me) looks great. I'm glad to see you're still active in the forums. I'm just returning from a back injury (or rather a re-inflammation of an old injury) and some ridiculous work schedules. Getting back into the gym this week.