Ask Rocco: I Would Rather be Thin than Muscular and Fat
Question: I'm tall and athletic, but I'm trying to change my body image. I lifted hard for a long time and ate all the calories so I could add muscle. I have never been able to lose or add weight, it just shifts from one portion of my body to the other. I have taken up running because I would rather be thin than muscular and fat, but I cannot get rid of the layer of skin/fat that I got while trying to add muscle. Any suggestions?
Answer: You havent told me where the layer of fat is. Im going to presume that it is all over your body. If you are tall, then you have long muscles. And you know what they say about people with long muscles? Thats right, cant get big muscles!
The reason it seemed like you werent gaining any size is due to the length of your muscles. The longer the muscles, the smaller they look. If your upper arm is 6 inches long compared to someone who has a 4 inch long upper arm, yours will look smaller even though it has the same meat on it. Think of it as a foot long hot dog compared to a 6 inch brat. They may weigh the same but, the brat looks bigger because it's thicker.
Although you cant gain size like the rest of us midgets, you would still be better off putting together a program that works the muscles through compound movements. Compound movements are exercises that use two or more muscle groups to move a specific resistance. A Dumb Bell Bench Press would be considered a compound movement as would a leg press. This will insure that you maintain what muscle you have and it wont melt away (atrophy) from all the running youll be doing. Keep doing something aerobic and the fat layer should come off and it would helpful if you stayed away from sugar, sugar substitutes and beer just as a precaution.
