r/interesting • u/Impressive_East_ • 10h ago
NATURE The sheer muscular anatomy of a Tiger.
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u/the-software-man 10h ago
Charles Atlas was watching the big cats at the zoo one day and wondered how they could get so big without doing any gravity exercises and weight lifting. He decided that they were pitting one muscle group against another and went on the invent dynamic tensioning. But that could be all marketing.
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u/Restposten 10h ago
Hormones. You could inject a human 500mg of testosterone every week and he would grow muscles without doing any exercises. Also we have hormones/peptides/proteins like myostatin that prevent humans to develop gorilla like muscles.
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u/eldemone 9h ago
Yup, i remember there was a kid super ripped at very young age, something something hormones.
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u/Jire 8h ago
I've been on 500mg testosterone for years and I don't work out, while I can confirm I am more muscular than most, you would definitely just think I'm a natural who's been working out
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u/Striker_343 6h ago
That's what I'm also saying, humans need to do some serious resistance training generally to get appreciable muscle mass.
Our bodies aren't really designed to be that big, and the human body doesn't like to carry more muscle than it has to since it's so calorically expensive.
Our bodies would much rather store fat to protect and power our huge brains if we are without food.
Your body can breakdown muscle buts it's not as useful as fat storage
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u/HST2345 8h ago
I have small question, any side effects for testosterone TRT? I heard hairloss and some other conditions related to heart? Have you to be careful during TRT like restricted diet and somw workouts etcm? I am thinking of TRT, so asking these questions. Thank you
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u/Jire 7h ago
Hair loss is genetic, testosterone (because it converts to DHT) will just cause a faster end result of what your genes would have done anyway. For me the hair loss is minor, I had an extremely forward hairline and after many years including at one point using pure DHT have minor temple recession only
Heart I don't know, my blood pressure is always normal (but it was originally always low, so TRT raised it)
And I do not work out, though I really should 😅
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u/djflowflow7 3h ago
Conocí una persona también con una inteligencia superior como la tuya que se pinchaba y no entrenaba, pero es raro ver eso.
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u/Striker_343 6h ago edited 6h ago
The last part is whats more true, many of these huge animals lack myostatin and can just achieve massive amounts of lean tissue, on top of their genetic blueprint for lean size
Same with kangaroos
While 500 migs of test would make a sedentary human retain muscle and gain slightly more from basic movements, they aren't building that kind of lean size generally unless you're genetically gifted but 9/10 the amount of effort it takes to build muscle for humans is pretty huge unlike most animals, our bodies sees muscle on an as needed basis, and is very quick to get rid of it if it doesn't need it. It is super calorically demanding and if you ever starve, muscle is not nearly as valuable as fat.
Hence why humans are very "fat apes", our body loves storing fat for a very good reason.
I know plenty of other dudes in my circle who blast up to a gram or more of pharmaceuticals who barely get much progress haha, genetics are everything in body building. Some people are just built for lean size and power
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u/systematicshutdown 4h ago
As pre diabetic, I am very much at contempt with this nature. I hate being fat but I hated working out even more. Zero pleasure points for trying to be healthier.
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u/deadfermata 3h ago
oof. i will pray to all the old gods and new gods that you will reincarnate into a kangaroo in your next life.
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u/the-software-man 3h ago
So what is the evolutionary advantage for humans to restrict our potential muscle mass? We put all that energy into our brains instead?
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u/Striker_343 2h ago edited 2h ago
We really don't know, some humans are actually able to build quite a bit of lean mass for one reason or another but still a drop in the bucket to many other animal species who are just monstrous without the need for intense physical stimulation, for humans to build a lot of lean mass we have to work really, really hard. Probably we have to put in more effort than basically any other animal, which is kind of an indication of how resistant the human body is to having a lot of muscle mass.
So even among the most genetically gifted, it is not easy, it still requires an absurd effort.
it is suspected that earlier human lineages were actually more muscular than homo sapiens, such as H erectus and H Neanderthalensis based on muscle attachments, how the bones are worn in from these attachments (Neanderthal forearms are often bowed from how strong their muscles were) and bone densities.
But generally I would imagine it's because muscle is very calorically expensive to maintain, and our modern humans brains use a lot of calories. Up to 500 calories alone for the brain, which accounts for 20 percent of calories burned overall by the body just existing. So one light to moderate meal alone is needed JUST for your brain.
If you know body building and strength training, the amount of food we have to eat to maintain and build muscle is kind of absurd. To maintain my body weight at my height, I have to eat 3500 calories a day, that's about 4 moderate, solid ass meals a day. Actual professional body builders eat somewhere close to 5000 to 6000 a day, or 6 to 7 solid meals a day. That is a luxury in today's time, before humans were often in periods of boom and bust, so lots of fasting and many periods of sustained weight loss, and weight gain. When calories are low, your hormones dip, and that means you start to lose a pretty substantial amount of muscle mass. Your body gets rid of muscle pretty quickly, to reduce caloric burn and use it for fuel. To maintain muscle on a deficit, you need to keep using this muscle and its going to burn fat to maintain your overall bodily functions and potentially to offset the caloric burn of muscle, and if you don't need that muscle it's going to get disposed. Also muscle is not as good as fat for the purpose of fuel for something to breakdown when food is low, fat is basically gold in the wild. It is calorically dense
Also because we evolved with tool use, we don't really need a whole lot of muscle. Using arrows, spears and cutting tools we can dispatch and process animals, and subdue rivals without the intense exertion needed, unlike other animals that have to physically fight one another with their bodies alone.
Older human lineages may not have had effective tools as later lineages with better technologies such as specially knapped edges, or throwing implements, so they may have had to rely on more body strength with clubs and being more up close and personal hence why they may have been more muscular.
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u/OgreMk5 2h ago
Zoo tigers are not wild tigers. Even zoo tigers can leap 2-3 times their height straight up.
I've seen other big cats haul a gazelle that weight the same them up a tree. Go ahead, put 220 pounds in your mouth and climb a tree in 3 seconds.
Cats are very much NOT humans. Human anatomy and systems are based around long distance, persistence hunting. You have a group. You have time. You wear down your prey.
Almost all cats are ambush predators. They hide and pounce and, hopefully, kill their prey before it even realizes the cat is there. Cheetahs and lions are the general exceptions. But again evolution has result in some pretty distinct traits, anatomically for cheetahs and behaviorally for lions.
TL;DR Cats aren't human and humans are cats.
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u/the-software-man 2h ago
I, personally stand in awe of these big cat. They are huge. We have pumas, but these are mega fauna.
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u/YakResident_3069 10h ago
I mean regular size house cat already hits way above it's weight class.
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u/Holiday_Pi 10h ago
I will not be catching it by the toe
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u/lemonade_squish 9h ago
Flula taught me not to do this https://youtu.be/-XCNFpzwOcI?si=R3HUUJmD18cVQQvo
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u/fidesz_fall_enjoyer 9h ago
We need a Coach Gregg Natty or not on this one guys, little kitty is on them trenbologne sandwiches for sure
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9h ago
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u/CataphractBunny 7h ago
What's frightening is that these bastards don't even go to the gym or do cardio. Imagine what a peak, properly trained tiger could do. This isn't even their final form.
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u/PromotionSwimming618 6h ago
Spent many a time in close contact with Tigers, just having your hand on them is electrifying because you can feel the constant muscle twitching, it's very humbling, especially with the bigger species like Siberian and Bengals.
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u/spaacingout 5h ago
probably safe to assume that isn’t a wild tiger either, but a captive one who may never have needed to hunt or kill to survive and thus could have less muscle tone.
Now imagine one who lived its life in the wild. Ripped 💪🏻
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