Question about muscles and skin elasticity

[raqhard]

I'm fairly new to using the forums, though not to Cathe's workout, but I recently read that when building muscle and doing heavy weights your skin stretches and then if you stop or slow down the skin will sag. Is that true?

 

[RapidBreath]

Huh??? I have never heard of that, maybe some of the other Cathletes know about it.

Alisha

 

[kathryn]

Maybe if you build majorly huge muscles like Arnold S. (I won't even attempt to spell his last name...you know who I mean.). But I would think that muscle gain and loss would usually be gradual enough not to have that effect (that losing a lot of fat could have).

Also, skin becomes less elastic as we age, whether we gain or lose weight.

 

[raqhard]

Thank you! I was second guessing myself and was afraid that all my the hard work would be a "waste" as I got older and could no longer keep up with the heavy lifting (though I'm not sure that will happen, but just in case!)

Thanks again,
Raq

 

[DirtDiva]

Don't think about that! You would have to steroid out and gain major muscle to get to that state. Skin has an amazing ability to stretch, although as you age it doesn't have the capacity to shrink with as much grace as when we were young. Seriously though, putting some muscle on is only going to enhance your appearance.

 

[RapidBreath]

Even at my strongest I never had an issue with getting huge (in college I was extraordinarily strong, its a genetic thing, all the people in my family are.)

Alisha