What are the differences between male fitness and muscle gain

The essence of the two is the relationship between inclusion and being included. Men's fitness in a general sense covers all active exercise behaviors aimed at improving physical condition. Muscle gain is only a very subdivided direction in the fitness goal spectrum. The difference from the underlying logic to the execution path actually revolves around "whether the goal is clearly directed towards muscle mass growth."

Look at the retired uncle in the community who plays Tai Chi for half an hour every day, the colleague who makes appointments to play football on weekends, and even the programmer who rides a shared bicycle for 20 minutes every day to avoid being crowded in the subway. As long as he actively and consciously mobilizes physical activity, it can be counted as fitness. There is no unified assessment standard in this category. There is no need to weigh weight or calculate diet. As long as you feel comfortable after exercising and achieve the small goals you want - such as no more soreness in the waist, no longer breathing when climbing stairs, and being able to run two more rounds on weekends, your fitness is considered to be in place.

But if you are trying to gain muscle, this set of loose standards will not work. After all, muscle growth itself is contrary to the logic of daily consumption. It must rely on resistance training of sufficient intensity to stimulate enough tearing of muscle fibers, and then rely on deliberately creating a caloric surplus, sufficient protein intake and rest to support excessive recovery. It is difficult to see obvious muscle growth even if it is even less. Last week, I met a kid who had just graduated from the gym. He walked for 40 minutes every day, then curled two sets of 5kg dumbbells before taking a shower. I asked him why he came to practice. He said that his back hurt after sitting at work all day, and he just moved and stretched. This is a typical general fitness. If you tell him that to gain muscle, you need to replace aerobics with squats and deadlifts, and eat enough 1.8 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight, he will most likely think you are looking for trouble.

There are a lot of controversies on the Internet now. Some people think that "as long as you build muscle, it is considered muscle gain." In fact, this statement is not wrong, but the boundary is blurry. Just like turning two pages of a professional book when you have nothing to do, it does not count as preparation for the exam, but you have made a plan to study the real questions according to the test center. If you memorize knowledge points, you must be rushing to pass the exam. Occasional muscle growth is just an additional benefit of fitness. Only if you actively regard "increasing muscle mass" as the core goal and adjust the entire chain of training, diet, and rest around this can you really enter the category of muscle gain.

Of course, there is no need to separate the two too closely. I once brought a member to fitness for the purpose of reducing fatty liver. After practicing for three months, he found that he could bench press from an empty bar to 60 kilograms, and his arms were obviously tight when wearing a shirt. Suddenly he became obsessed with building muscle. After that, he took the initiative to plan a diet, and recorded the rest and volume between sets for every training. In less than a year, his arm circumference increased from 32 to 37. Isn’t this a natural transition from general fitness to muscle building. To put it bluntly, there is no standard answer to fitness. Whether you want to move casually and feel good, or work hard to build muscles, it all depends on what you want. There is no distinction between high and low, just whatever suits you.