weight. You may even gain a few pounds, because muscle weighs more
per square inch than fat, but your clothes may fit better. As we explain in
Chapter 2, that number on your bathroom scale is an incomplete number.
But what if I want to increase bulk? ................................................
Developing huge muscles is difficult for people with certain body types, and
usually comes only with a high-calories diet mixed with intensive, consistent
training. If you’re lean and wiry to begin with, you’ll probably add definition
but not much size. The people most likely to build up their frames are those
who have a muscular body type even before they start lifting.
To bulk up without risking the dangers of steroids, many athletes and recre-
ational exercisers are turning to creatine,the apparently more benign sub-
stance that was touted by baseball’s homerun king Mark McGwire. Some
research shows that creatine may indeed make you bigger and stronger;
however, the research isn’t conclusive, and no one has studied the substance
long enough to know if there are long-term side-effects. We also advise against
taking androstenedione— also known as andro— another muscle-building aid
that McGwire used. Evidence suggests that andro lowers levels of HDL choles-
terol, the good kind, increasing the risk for heart disease, and it’s now banned
by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Apparently, an increasing number of men are harboring unrealistic expecta-
tions about their potential to get huge. A few years ago, a Harvard psychiatrist
came up with an interesting theory to explain why: outlandishly muscular
toys. Over the last 30 years, G.I. Joe action figures have inflated into hulks
with physiques that even top bodybuilders can’t attain. The professor mea-
sured the waist, chest, and biceps of the action figures and then adjusted
the numbers for a 6-foot man. In 1964, G.I. Joe had 12.2-inch biceps; ten years
later his “guns” had grown to 15.2 inches. By 1998, G.I. Joe’s biceps measured
a whopping 26.8 inches — nearly 7 inches larger than Mark McGwire’s. For
decades, Barbie — with her impossibly small waist and huge chest — has
created unrealistic expectations for women and girls; now, it seems that G.I.
Joe is doing the same sort of damage in boys and men.
If I stop lifting weight, won’t my muscle turn to fat? ....................
Only if silver can be transformed into gold. Fat and muscle are two distinctly
different substances. When you look at them under the microscope, fat looks
like chicken wire, and muscle looks like frayed electrical wiring. If you stop
lifting weight, your muscles simply atrophy,a fancy word for shrink. The main
Chapter 11: Why You’ve Gotta Lift Weights 169