You see these big guys that don’t really train, but are quite strong, and likely eat big.
This is an idea running through my head based partially on prior experience and things I’ve seen. Take it for what you will:
There’s a couple factors at play here.
First off food is anabolic. Doesn’t it make sense that with just a small amount of physical effort or even willing it into being that simply eating more would cause growth and strength increases? Yeah yeah nothing I just wrote there is anything new, I want you to take that and go a few levels deeper. For one think during formative years.
Often our brains limit us. If we don’t know something is “supposed to be” heavy it very likely won’t be. This is my issue with pussified culture leaching into the gym. The majority of gyms are naught but studios of convenience for Instagram photoshoots at this point where everyone fears double team nighttime rape from the overtraining monster under their bed and the injury monster in their closet.
We are not meant to be weak and unathletic. At young ages we generally function properly ie are strong and athletic. Some people (often book dumber, more impulsive, more in touch with their animal side) retain this into adulthood.
(A Samoan guy I knew who lived off of meat, beer, island music, and cigs once impromptu blasted off a competitive 40yd dash in front of me after his cousin who had taken his ball cap, never having trained at maybe 5’7″ ~260lb, I’d seen his tall heavyweight sister do similar but at a distance of closer to a 100yds. This is not race/ethnicity related, all humans who don’t think themselves out of the abilities can have them.)
I truly believe by being self conscious of being fat and losing at least 38lbs my freshman year of high school I set myself back years strength wise and likely did something bad hormonally (temporarily) by doing lots of distance work, starving myself, and when eating having little other than carbs. Prior to that I had a natural strength and explosiveness if not one iota of endurance at the time.
If anyone had fed me some meat, told me to sprint 40s and squat I believe I’d have likely grown bigger and much stronger faster while healthily recomping along the way. This was a trade off, I did it all wrong, set myself back a ton (I could feel how much strength I lost, and it showed in sprint/explosive efforts, now coming back big time), but in the process learned to get mean.
Feasting and fasting is the way of the predator. Prey graze all day. I think a lot of bigger stronger people even when eating throughout the day are loading more of their calories at night in a feast. Think of big dudes guzzling beers and pounding down pounds of barbeque. At the end of the day I think enough calories are more important than perfect macros, and fat is likely the most important macro of the three.
The good thing is though we can emulate all we need to, and not take part in this party of weakness. We can get our natural strength back. No one is too far gone, it’s only them choosing to be rolly polly sad sack examples of humanity.
Humans are animals, and animals are meant to be strong and resilient.
-J