The incredibles touch on this. Mr incredible needs to get back in shape which implies he had to work out while being a super hero.
this post was submitted on 02 Sep 2025
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Also he worked out by lifting train carts.
The number of calories it takes to lift an object of a given weight isn't affected by how dofficult it is for you. Per the law of conservation of energy, it takes a specific amount of energy to lift an object of a given weight a given height, just as much as it would have if you dropped it from that height in a vaccuum.
The actual reason they would be out of shape is because they wouldn't NEED to work out to be strong, since they're supernaturally gifted, so they just wouldn't
It is affected by how efficient your muscles are as you don't reach a 100% energy conversion. Given the typical representation of Super-Heroes as muscular, but usually not hippo-sized, their muscles being "super efficient" would be one way of explaining why they manage to get more strength out of less muscles.
Per the law of conservation of energy, it takes a specific amount of energy to lift an object of a given weight a given height
That of course leads to another problem for people with super strength... heat dissipation. If someone were to lift something as massive as a train car, the amount of heat generated by that persons muscles would be proportionate to the mass they're lifting. Unfortunately, they'll be expending massive amounts of energy, without a proportional amount of surface area, so the potential for heat dissipation is comparatively quite small.
My conclusion: any character with super strength would probably unintentionally also have the human torch's iconic power. Depending on the character, they may only be able to do this once...
Counter: Gorillas don't work out and remain strong and fit.
But that's because their muscles work differently to human muscles. I'm not an expert but I'm pretty sure their body does not break down muscles that are not in use, they can only ever gain more (or at least they lose muscle mass much more slowly than humans)
That's somewhat addressed in Dragon Ball Super. Frieza says that he never trained because he was always the strongest by default. So after he was defeated in Z he started training and became really really super uber mega strong.
They already addressed it in original Dragon Ball. Son Goku is always training. He’s pushing himself to new levels through training, whether it be by chasing a cat atop a tall tower, or by sustaining extreme hyper gravity in a space ship.
Of course, but I meant the thing this post is about. A super strong character that never trained, that would benefit from training.
That's what I've always thought! I could never understand how Superman could get to have so much marked muscle if he is naturally able to lift tons without much effort, which makes it very difficult for him to break down his muscle fibers and regenerate them to gain muscle mass.
Unless in the Fortress of Solitude he has a gym with weights made from neutron star cores, he is much more likely to have a belly like the strongest men in real life.
Inactive Myostatin gene or it's equivalent if they're alien.
Exactly. His body isn't human, it just looks like it. He gets all his energy from photosynthesis. In at least one "bullshit" iteration, he can sap solar power from plants directly.
This is not a human with a humans constraints.
Excuse me, but even we regular humans can sap solar power from plants… although not directly.
It really depends on the source of the super strength. The juggernaut is a god-empowered being of strength; he looks muscley because that's what strength is supposed to look like, not because it affects his ability to do work.
Superman looks strong because that's the ideal humanoid form, apparently, and his eugenics-obsessed ancestors chose that as the look they wanted to breed for.
Mr incredible/robert parr from the incredibles had to work out, and used literal trains as his gym equipement. It's likely his super power wasn't super strength so much as fewer limits on how much improvement he could get from his workouts. He is out of shape at the start of his story, and getting rid of that, while relatively easy for him compared to others, did require actual work on his part.
If you had a superhero who had like, a psychic shield or similar that surrounded their body and gave the appearance of super strength, like Victoria Dallon from Worm, then yeah, they'd have to work a lot harder to look like the strength they use on a regular basis.
Except in rare cases, I think you've got it backwards. Heroes with super strength get their muscles from their powers, and only the rare few outliers don't get muscles from their superpowers.
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That’s why Homelander wears a padded suit
This reminded me of my favorite anecdote about Homelander's suit. From Jensen Ackles when he showed up on set completely jacked like a superhero:
I was told to beef up, and so I worked out like a madman. The physical preparation was something that I’ve never done before. But I think it helped me get there mentally. I get to set and Anthony’s like, ‘Why didn’t you just tell him to add muscles to the suit, bro?’ And it just deflated me. Just crushed me. All that effort and it was for really nothing,” shared Ackles while speaking with EW.
Exercise barely burns any calories compared to the calories burned through your daily activities, like breathing, moving around, etc.
Think Mark, think! If you need on average 2k calories to maintain your current weight, that means your body is already burning 2k calories a day for you doing nothing extra like working out.
What working out really helps with (aside of “increasing strength”) is to keep your body in motion and flexible. When your body is in motion it will ramp up your metabolism throughout the day (comparatively to a sedentary lifestyle).
Also, you have a default level of strength that does not need exercise to maintain. So if I can lift a 40lb bag of dog food with ease, then I can keep doing that regardless of I work out. Now, factor in that if my job was to load and unload 40lb bags of dog food every day, I’d probably get stronger just because my job is my exercise.
Sorry for the rambling, but my point is that there is so much more to being fit and healthy than simply exercising (and I imagine super heroes do all those other things too by way of their “job”).
Invulnerability brings up the same issues. How do you break down and rebuild muscle when you are impervious to harm?
Like not only would the classic superhero physique not exist, but mutants like Wolverine would be skinny/flabby dudes.
And none of them could get IVs or any other medical treatment that called for needles or surgery.
Wolverine doesn't count as he just heals super fast.
That's not the point. We build muscle by tearing muscle down and growing it back. His healing super fast wouldn't give the muscles time to grow it would just replace the muscle tissue that was there already.
Strength training really doesn't burn a lot of fat unless you're doing a lot of reps and specifically targeting the muscles most surrounded by fatty tissue. Most cardio exercises don't become easier just because you're stronger, unless you're wearing weights.
This is an accurate take.
With superhuman strength, you need to exercise 6-8 hours per day for minor benefits, whereas most regular people start seeing benefits from even 15 minutes of moderate walking per day.
This is a vague and unprovable take.
Mr incredible had to work out to get his strength back, and managed to do it while having a job, family, and friends who all were happier with how much more time he was spending on them during his getting more fit phase.
Maybe their super strength doesn't apply to cardio stamina and they can still get fit by running really fast or something.