Fitness myths: Muscle turns into flab when you stop working out

Nonsense... pure nonsense. There is no physiological evidence to suggest that fat can be turned into muscle or vice versa. Muscle and fat are completely different tissues and you can not turn one into the other... period. You may as well just say that your BMW will turn into a Chevrolet if you stop washing it because both are equally possible.

src

On the sales side of things, you will often see the opposite case presented in the form of "turn your fat into muscle in 12 weeks" or even worse some pill or supplement that promises that it will do such a task for you. It is all nonsense but for today I want to focus on the reverse.

I have friends, they are mostly my lazy friends who are always making excuses that they think is based on fact because they saw it on the internet or they spoke to an equally lazy person who told them that once you stop lifting, all of your muscle will turn into flab and you will end up with man boobs.

src

Arnold is a frequent example used. Or it could be someone like Hulk Hogan, or really anyone that has a super-human physique at some point in their lives. They see some "then and now" picture and this is their justification to continue not going to the gym. It isn't because they are lazy, it is because they are looking out for their future physique by not bulking up.

src

There are so many things wrong with this line of thinking aside from the fact that the person in question who has this opinion is merely trying to justify their lazy lifestyle.

For one thing, that bottom picture was cherry-picked by paparazzi who are trying to make Arnold look bad for the sake of selling whatever publication they are working for. The next problem is that the first one was a posed photo where they almost certainly had to take dozens of pictures before they got it just right. Also, Arnold is flexing in the first one, but not in the last. The last point is that Arnold is 72 years old and even though he doesn't know this picture is being taken, check out his biceps!

It is true that after a while, especially if you used steroids to achieve a physique that wouldn't be possible without them, that the void where the muscle used to be is going to stretch your skin and once that muscle reduces in size there will be excess skin there unless some sort of plastic surgery is done to counteract that. However, this is not muscle turning into fat, which as I mentioned before, is simply not possible.

---

If you ever hear someone at the bar try to talk to you about physical fitness, especially if they are not fit themselves, there is a better than average chance that they are completely full of it and this should be obvious. However, I am very frustrated when I hear people selling this myth either for profit or for social points that muscle can turn into fat or the other way around. It simply isn't possible and this myth needs to go away.

Lifting weights makes you stronger. You are not going to gain bulk like Arnold or Hulk did by going to the gym a few times a week and doing some reps... what you will get is stronger muscles and a lot of other added benefits including feeling better about yourself and burning more calories than you would if you didn't have these muscles.

_{from athlete, to fat-lete, and back}