Well, the biggest thing was my nerve injury for the left arm. It seems it has recovered mostly. But certainly fat improves strength in certain lifts like bench and squat. Improved leverages, and lower rom are probably the biggest factors. I guess now, I care more about looking good than putting up big weight. That 405 bench is still in the back of my mind though.
I’m for sure down in strength from where I was, but I believe the most likely explanations are the nerve injury, then benching 150 lbs at most for two months, then the fat loss, in that order. I don’t think I’ve lost a whole lot of muscle though. Strength is coming back quick.
I’ve even brought up the fact that gaining fat will improve some lifts, in other threads. It is kinda one of those well known things in strength sports, but it seems to blow a lot of bodybuilders away.
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Improved stability of the joints is the biggest factor especially in upper body lifts. As soon as you lose (fat) mass around the shoulder joint, you can’t access all your strength.
I forgot you were injured. My bad. In that case, you probably lost some muscle, likely not much. And you are right, it will come back fast.
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That is true, and I forgot about that. I think part of the joint stability is from better leverages though. When you have a bit of fat say on the arms, the leverages change and the fat creates a push off point to separate the upper and lower arm in a press. Having something to push off from stabilizes the joint.
Having fat around the joint creates compression and stabilizes the joint too. What I’m guessing your mentioning?
Wonder if I’m missing some other aspect?
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Yes That’s what I was referring to. The more mobile a joint is, the less stable it becomes. Especially the shoulder joint profits from some fat around it.
Me too. I think glycogen and water can play a similar role. What I always wondered about was CNS activation during a diet. I always had the feeling that during the first few weeks I could compensate for the lack of glycogen and water With will power but the further the diet progressed, the weaker I got. I heard some people say that that’s because of joint instability. The CNS/PNS can’t access the whole power of the muscle under unstable conditions. But it always felt to me like the mental fatigue from pushing through weeks of a deficit took its own toll.
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Agree. I think this is a big part of the dbol strength gains (really ask the wet compounds). I have used salt in large quantities with water before big lifts, and it makes me a bit stronger, and also makes me look terrible.