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How come gorillas are so much stronger than even elite level human weightlifters if they never train and spend most of the day sleeping and eating?

Humans produce a protein called myostatin that inhibits muscle growth; it makes it difficult to grow big muscles. Having too much muscle slows you down and tires you (and your heart) out. That protein limits muscle growth so that humans don't need to consume ridiculous amounts of anything and can survive when resources are low.

Gorillas don't have that protein.

It's beneficial to limit muscle growth because of the high amount of calories needed to sustain them. If you're not using them, you lose them.

We're made for running, not lifting ourselves up on trees. For that, we needed to be leaner and lighter. Being heavy and muscular only slows you down when you're hunting gazelles.

We evolved for endurance running, rather than for sprinting speed. Even the fastest human or pre-human primate ancestor would be unable to catch large prey over short distances. What humans evolved to do effectively is manage heat through sweating and lack of fur, which allows us to chase prey until the animal is exhausted or collapses from heat.

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