Hormones (or not) and Musculature

Hey Guys,

As you probably know I work out after hours at the gym at my place of employment, well from time to time male college students come in for a workout. They're often in awe about the size of my muscles, ask me how I do it and so forth. The other day when a 19 year old kid asked me how he could do it, it just hit me:

This kid (and the other kids I see in there) must have a couple of times more testo and growth hormone in his body - I mean, he's 19. Yet, in spite of his efforts and my being nearly 30 years older (46), I'm able to pack muscle/ strength and outrun most of these kids while they remain  very weak and toothpick like.

Of course, there are other factors like race, I suppose. He's Japanese and I'm a hybrid Celt, English, German, Swiss, American Indian.

Wondering what else might be involved? I always think of hormones as being the big determining factor, but perhaps not.

Best Wishes,

Dave

I suspect that "time on task" has something to do with it. 19 y/o's ought to have a huge adavantage in terms of  testosterone levels, but those levels haven't been that high for long and these kids may not have been seriously lifting for any period of time at all. Give them about 3 years of rigorous weight training and it might be different.  But obviously there are lots of different body types out there. I was a HS powerlifting coach for a number of years and I've coached guys who were lifting in the 198's or 185's (avg sized kids) and could bench in the mid to mid high 300's and squat in the low 500's yet their definition and bulk was no where close to yours. Yet I've seen other kids who were about the same size who were casual lifters at best and looked like greek gods with their shirt off. Doesn't seem really fair. Back when I was lifting seriously, about 10 years ago, I was benching 435 and squatting 515 and deading about 515. I could feel the muscle but you really couldn't see them much. Of course I was about 100 lbs over weight at the time too.

JFish,

You're right. It might be time on the task. I think they've been training about the same amount of time, but it may be the first time they've started. For me, it's about the third time in my life. I've also got a pretty big bone structure.

I'll have to tell them to keep with it. That's the only way they'll know (and lay off too much of that rice!).

Best Wishes,

Dave