Why don't bigger muscles mean you're stronger?
Question
At the gym, I struggled to push 65kg, but my friend who has much smaller muscles than me managed to push 85kg. How come? Don’t bigger muscles make you stronger?Curtis, Lewisham
Answer
** Joint Definitive **
Name: George, Southend
Qualification: Used to be a bodybuilder
Answer: I’m a big guy and smaller guys used to lift heavier weights than me all the time! It’s because smaller people have greater leverage on the weight as they have shorter arms.
(James O’Brien: I agree, but there is still room for improvement).
** Joint Definitive **
Name: Joseph, Maidenhead
Qualification:
Answer: George was right with his answer of leverage, but there are two other aspects. The first is technique, which can be trained and the other is type of muscle. The smaller guy may have had more fast-twitch muscles, which are used by sprinters, compared with slow-twitch, which are used by marathon runners. So essentially, he’s trained his muscles to lift weights.
** Most definitive **
Name: Simon, Sidcup
Qualification: Muscle master
Answer: If you’re looking at just the size of muscles, the bigger guy may have more fat tissue around his muscles, or even within the muscle, making them appear bigger whilst without having more muscle fibres. Also, whenever you use the muscle, you only use about 10% of what is available, as the body’s way of protecting them. So some people may be using slightly more than 10%.