What is muscle maturity?

[stackdizzy]

iI used to be described as people who have round full muscle bellies. People would think that look is attainable by everyone if you just have enough muscle maturity. Thats what it was were i come from.

 

[Fleezy]

May well have been Dave Gulledge on the T-Nation forums way back in the day. If i remember right his stats were about what you said...went from like 320 to 260-265:
View attachment 249393

Jeeze what a throwback! I was there for that thread

I remember thinking damn that guy is HUGE



Doesn’t hit the same now - like 20 years later lol

 

[qbkilla]

I don't follow bodybuilding much but names that come to mind off the top of my head

Jeff alberts and alberto Nunez. Claim natty so id assume less drugs, both train hard it appears and focus on rep quality and progressive overload. Look like dense muscle to my untrained eye

On the opposite end...2 guys that come to mind chase irons and Derek Anthony. Both look just puffy...per the other thread sounds like chase loves drugs and food but doesn't train hard. Anthony no idea but I'd assume he pushed the dosages...not sure about training

 

[MajinBoo]

I don't follow bodybuilding much but names that come to mind off the top of my head

Jeff alberts and alberto Nunez. Claim natty so id assume less drugs, both train hard it appears and focus on rep quality and progressive overload. Look like dense muscle to my untrained eye

On the opposite end...2 guys that come to mind chase irons and Derek Anthony. Both look just puffy...per the other thread sounds like chase loves drugs and food but doesn't train hard. Anthony no idea but I'd assume he pushed the dosages...not sure about training

Have you ever met Alberto in person? Or watch him on stage? I guess not.. otherwise you would not doubt he is natural

 

[KyleSmith1985]

I think the "true myofibrillar tissue" theory is the most plausible. The theory that it's best built by training with heavy weights also sounds reasonable. One thing's for sure: you can't achieve this look with any training, diet, or any AAS in five years; it takes decades of lifting. Just look at the most talented athletes of the younger generation, like Nihat Khaya. These are "young" muscles. On the other hand, muscles in a 70-year-old also look different, so we can assume that the best age to achieve this maturity is 40-50.

And if judges tell a young athlete that she lacks "maturity," that's unusual feedback. It's like saying, in other words, "train for at least 10 more years and we'll see how you look."

Player photo by @luki7788, a perfect example of mature muscles.

40-50 seems pretty late. A lot of us started training hard at 12 years old and even competed as a teenager including myself. It was around age 27 I started to notice I had a much denser look. Keep in mind thats with 12 years of serious training and running cycles for 7 years.

 

[qbkilla]

Have you ever met Alberto in person? Or watch him on stage? I guess not.. otherwise you would not doubt he is natural

I haven't...I just remember back in the day he was talked about because he would be super lean year round. What is your opinion of him..physique and natty status?

 

[kadafi2]

40-50 seems pretty late. A lot of us started training hard at 12 years old and even competed as a teenager including myself. It was around age 27 I started to notice I had a much denser look. Keep in mind thats with 12 years of serious training and running cycles for 7 years.

Yes, it seems quite late; these numbers are just very general statistics, averages. Nothing precise. Simply put, if someone starts working out at 20, on average, after about 20 years of training, they have "different muscles," hence the assumption of maturity at 40. For some, this will come earlier, for others later. Genetics also play a role, as does how hard we try over the years. And of course, the presentation of our "mature muscles," meaning low body fat.

Even looking through the photo gallery here, the most muscularly mature seem to be those in their 40s and 50s, and that's also what came to mind as a loose example.

 

[MajinBoo]

I haven't...I just remember back in the day he was talked about because he would be super lean year round. What is your opinion of him..physique and natty status?

He is small.. To me he is natty 100%

 

[AllOkJumpmaster]

I haven't...I just remember back in the day he was talked about because he would be super lean year round. What is your opinion of him..physique and natty status?

He is natty, I have no doubt. There are plenty of fake natties out there, even plenty that compete in our organizations, but he isn't one of them. He is also a coach, and they won't even coach anyone that uses. Alberto is just really good at dieting lol and has big arms relatively speaking.

I am not talking about you, but regular people would be surprised just how fuckin lean and muscular you can get just by dieting (and cardio, but for some it is not necessary). Once you start getting ripped out of your mind close to stage people will simply not believe you could have achieved it without using something. On the other hand people that are enhaced believe that natties think they are superior, and that is not true in any capacity. Hell the only reason I even set out on that path is because I am an Army officer and didn't want to jeopardize my career, and then after so long it was just like fuck it I'll stay natty.