post competition muscle gain

[anatomie88]

I've been hearing and seeing articles that after a body building competition, competitors are able to gain muscle quite rapidly when they start lifting weights again post comp. I was just curious why this happens, could I have an explanation?

[racindude52]

... maybe people are confusing weight in general with lean mass. I gained 30lbs a month and a half after my first show. I think 29.5lbs was fat. I'll do it better next time.

[michaeloey]

I've been hearing and seeing articles that after a body building competition, competitors are able to gain muscle quite rapidly when they start lifting weights again post comp. I was just curious why this happens, could I have an explanation?

This is simply due to super compensation effect, think about it, for months u have been restricting urself of various kinds of foods that ur body needs, and u keep lowering the calories and/ or increasing the cardio to further rid urself of the extra bodyfat. Post competition , ur body basically acts like a dry sponge ( this is true for both the fat and muscle cells- they both want to grow!), your insulin sensitivity at this point is high ( again true for both fat and muscle) , and this is the very reason that when u go back into the gym lifting heavy once again, this time in the presence of caloric surplus, the heightened insulin sensitivity as well as the fact that your metabolism is crawling after long and exhausting periods of dieting, allows u to pack on a lot of ur lost muscle AND your fat stores back to pre-dieting period. This is why most bodybuilders notice rapid gain in bodyweight as well as muscle size and strength back when they enter the initial stages of their off season program....