I’m a 21-year-old guy and am interested in adding some weight to my frame. Currently I’m 6’1” and only weight 160 lbs, which is obviously too light. Here’s my concern though – if I add, say, 30 pounds of muscle now what will happen to it when I’m 60 and don’t want to train anymore? Will it turn to fat?
I can’t tell you how many times over my adult life people have come up to me asking this question, or a variation of it. It seems that at some point in time someone started a rumor that muscle can turn into fat and that rumor stuck, forever skewing the perceptions of millions of would-be lifters.
No, muscle cannot convert to fat, no matter how hard it tries. They are two biologically distinct organs, as different as skin is from bone. Asking if muscle can turn to fat is akin to asking if bone could turn to skin.
What can happen to a bodybuilder who gives up training though (and for the life of me I can’t imagine why one would) is that fat accumulates when he continues eating the same number of calories he ate when he was a lifter. As muscle begins to disappear fat simultaneously collects in the places where there once was muscle. So, the appearance of fat replacing muscle occurs.
Could you please help me with some exercises for the inner thighs, especially just below the pelvic area? I use both the adductor and abductor machines, plus do side kicks and lunges, but it is still flabby.
It sounds as if you are doing your best to overcome a professed weak area, but to no avail. I understand your frustration. The body doesn’t always cooperate exactly as we would like, despite our best efforts. Still, I think I can offer you some help.
Of the four exercises you mention only one, adductors, focuses on the muscles of your inner thigh. Abductors hit the outer portion of you hips, lunges are great for quads, hamstrings and glutes and side kicks also work the outer portion of your pelvic area.
What you need to do is wide-stance pressing exercises, like squats and leg presses. Also, by pointing your toes slightly outward you can better target your inner thighs.
An excellent movement for inner thigh development is something called the duck squat. This involves taking a wider than shoulders stance, pointing your toes out to the sides as far as you can without feeling discomfort, and squatting to below parallel. Use very light weights when doing these, and none at all in the beginning. They require balance and attention to form so as to avoid injury. They are excellent for developing the area you wish you work on though.
Below I’ve created a leg workout specifically to address your needs. Good luck with it!
| Joe’s Inner Thigh-Centric Routine | ||
| Exercise | Sets | Reps |
| Leg extensions | 2 | 15 |
|
Leg curls |
3 | 15 |
| Duck squats | 3 | 10-15 |
| Wide-stance leg presses | 3 | 10-15 |
| Adductors | 2 | 12-15 |