Muscle vs Fat

Muscle improves your proportions, but fat ruins them.

The shape of your body is largely determined by your muscle mass, however that is assuming that you don’t have an excess of body fat distorting you true shape. The point of working out with weights is to manipulate your muscle mass to augment your look. Having fat covering all of those muscles makes your effort in the gym seem pointless.

Part of the reason fat distorts your shape is because it is not evenly distributed over you body. For example men typically build up significantly more fat around their abdomen and women typically store more fat around their hips and thighs.

If we gained fat evenly over our whole body then fat gain would look exactly like gaining muscle (the only difference would be less definition, but proportions would always be good)…this however isn’t the case. As we gain more and more fat both men and women start to look more like blobs with most of the fat stored closer to the middle of our bodies (abdomen and hips thighs) and thus proportions look worse and worse the more fat we gain.

The point of both gaining muscle and losing fat (besides any health benefit) is to improve our proportions for the aesthetic appeal. This of course is also measurable with the Adoins Index for men and Venus Index for women. (waist to shoulder ratios and waist to shoulder to hip ratios respectively)

John

Posted by johnbarban in Fat Loss, Muscle Building
Tags: Fat Loss, Muscle Building, muscle vs fat |17 Comments

17 Responses to “Muscle vs Fat”

  1. Bart Says:
    April 29th, 2010 at 3:38 pm

    Definitely agree.
    Fat looks terrible and we workout to look nice and see the muscles!!!

  2. Jason Says:
    April 29th, 2010 at 4:34 pm

    I think what holds a lot of guys back is fear of losing size or being “small”.

    I’m not a heavily-muscled guy but these pics were taken 8 weeks apart. I’m 15 pounds lighter in the second set of photos. I think it can be assumed which body composition I prefer:

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/oosakinana/4395679344/in/set-72157623402525345/

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/oosakinana/4550936492/in/set-72157623803216259/

  3. Jason Says:
    April 29th, 2010 at 4:43 pm

    Didn’t know I could use these:

  4. Jenn Says:
    April 29th, 2010 at 7:26 pm

    Just out of curiosity when are you planning on releasing the venus index?

  5. Donatello Says:
    April 30th, 2010 at 1:09 am

    Jason I saw your photos but I have to admit that your second photo looked a bit… weird? Your waistline looks far too small, especially in http://www.flickr.com/photos/oosakinana/4550298951/in/set-72157623803216259/. Then again maybe it’s just me. What do the rest of you guys think?

  6. Wood Says:
    April 30th, 2010 at 4:17 am

    and what determines where your body puts the fat? I mean a bulked up bodybuilder looks much better than az obessed man. Seems that the fat goes everywhere if you are more muscular. If some dont train most fat seems to go to the middle area.

  7. Jordan Says:
    April 30th, 2010 at 12:09 pm

    I think Jason looks great! He just has a small build.

  8. Joshua Says:
    April 30th, 2010 at 12:27 pm

    Jason! I admire your dedication (and great definition), but I think it’s pretty clear you lost some good muscle from the first pic. Dont take this as an insult, but you’re a little too thin. And if that’s what looks good to you, then fine; you look great either way; just dont see the point of getting that thin (I can see muscle wasting in the legs from pic to pic). That will take a rather low calorie intake to maintain and probably at the expense of some vital nutrients (vitamins, fatty acids, minerals, cofactors, and protein) over the long haul. Also, the thyroid will not function optimally on a prolonged low carb/low cal diet. (causes dry skin, constipation, mental fogginess, and sluggishness, to name a few symptoms). If carbs are maintained but protein insufficient, then muscle wasting will surely ensue. And if carbs and protein are sufficient, but fatty acids are insufficient, then hormonal disturbance and glandular hypofunction will ensue. And sure, that might even enable you to extend your lifespan, as it seems the VLCD does. But at a cost. Life aint so great on the VLCD.
    Wow, got out of control there; just dont get too thin, man. You look great.

  9. Jason Says:
    April 30th, 2010 at 3:09 pm

    Hi everyone,
    I appreciate the honest feedback (and compliments).

    In the side-relaxed photo, I’m turned in such a way to make my shoulder-to-waist ratio appear dramatic. The judges hate it, but all competitors sneak it in, and ALL PROS do it.

    As for my build, I am clearly on the ectomorphic side, but in fact I gained quite a bit of muscle size in my teen years.

    For someone as light as me, it’s important to be shredded in order to give the illusion of more size. It might seem distorted, but appearing full and muscular offstage has nothing to do with what you look like onstage. If the conditioning is not there, you look even smaller. For example, I’ve been cheating on my diet the past couple of days and I look less impressive, not more.

    I think the main issue here is people don’t realize how small they would be if they actually got in contest shape. It’s the reason why so many competitive bodybuilders are on a ton of drugs.

  10. Jason Says:
    April 30th, 2010 at 3:19 pm

    As for “muscle wasting” in the legs, don’t confuse losing size vs. losing fullness. My legs are obviously smaller (in circumference) and that’s a GOOD thing. My quads, hamstrings, and calves are more separated and, even though we’re comparing indoor vs. outdoor photos, more vascular. Most guys lose waist circumference before losing thigh circumference.

    Think about it: if you wanted your abs to “pop”, would you worry about losing size in the waist?

    I’m not insulting anyone; just pointing out the error in perception.

  11. Donatello Says:
    May 1st, 2010 at 6:35 am

    Jason,I’m an ectomorph too, but I’m at the AI, you can see me here (sorry the photo maybe a bit “artsy” but was posing for a girlfriend who was doing photography). :)

    http://yfrog.com/jc2435candle21hcopxj

    let me know what you guys think!

  12. Darren Says:
    May 2nd, 2010 at 4:18 am

    Hey John, I saw that you have worked with MuscleTech and was wondering if you know of or had input in MuscleTechs NitroTech Hardcore. I got a free taster the other day in cookies and cream flavour and even with water its absolutely delicious, by far the best tasting whey protein (also contains creatine, BCAAs, few vits) I have ever tried. My question is, even though I only really got it because of the taste how do you rate the product itself?

    Regards

    Darren

  13. Jason Says:
    May 2nd, 2010 at 11:44 pm

    Donatello,
    I am not able to view your photo even though I logged in through Twitter (?)

  14. johnbarban Says:
    May 3rd, 2010 at 12:48 pm

    Darren,

    I judge these things based on taste and price. if you’re happy with both then there is no need to change. As far as ingredients go protein is protein and creatine is creatine, no magic there.

    JB

  15. Fe Parvin Says:
    May 13th, 2010 at 1:21 pm

    Protein is a must have that most don’t take in enough of when attempting to pack on the muscle. Thank you for a great article

  16. Julieann Scotten Says:
    May 13th, 2010 at 2:03 pm

    Protein is essential that most don’t get enough of when attempting to pack on the mass. props for a good posting

  17. The Only Downside Is the Need for New Clothes Says:
    January 9th, 2012 at 9:53 am

    [...] At first he needed to lose a lot, so he was eating roughly 1000 calories per day, however this was getting tougher every week and he was forced to raise his caloric intake and he gradually went from 1000 to 1800 over the next couple of weeks. And this is something you can expect to happen, if you have a lot of fat to lose (let’s say 30 pounds) then at the beginning you will be able to eat very low, however as you progress and get leaner, you will have to start eating more and more and slightly optimize to maintenance once you get to a single digit body fat number. [...]

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