yes it does. Find me an obese person with separations and striations. Likewise, find me a shredded person with no separations or striations. Definition is directly correlated with conditioning (i.e. as body fat and water levels drop, definition increases).
You already got owned in the truce thread by yours truly in this exact debate, and I can see that you're back for more. Striations and separations
correlate with low bodyfat and water levels, but genetics is also a factor. Andreas Munzer had more striations than anyone else onstage, even though the other competitors had as little subcutaneous fat and water as he did. Munzer was at the 93' Olympia and he destroyed Dorian in terms of striations, even though Dorian was at the lowest bodyfat and water levels a Human can go before entering rigor mortis. Riddle me that?
if they are genetic, then explain what anatomical factor is responsible for the lack of definition at extreme conditioning levels.
Irrelevant. The fact that different boybuilders exibit different levels of definition and striations at the same bodyfat indicates that there are other factors besides subcutaneous fat and water responsible for definition and striations. I don't need to actually know what factors these are for my point to stand on solid logic.
nope. Dorian said himself that he genetically has very thin skin. This disproves your theory that thin skin is the result of conditioning.
Both play a part. Maybe Dorian's thin skin is responsible for his ultra-hard look - coupled with years of training to failure -, but he had other physiological factors that precluded him from showing lots of striations.
so you concede that Andreas Munzer had better conditioning? Gotcha.
It depends on how you define conditioning. If you define it as definition and striations, then yes, he did have better conditioning. However, I define conditioning as having low bodyfat and water levels. Why? Because as you get to extremely low bodyfat and water levels, your body will express conditioning in a myriad of different ways. Depending on your genetic and physiological type, you can either become striated like Munzer and Dexter Jackson or acquire that granite look with less striations like Dorian and Branch Warren. So I concede that all of these things are indicators of conditioning: definition, striations and hardness. All Human Beings will express some or the other as they drop their bodyfat and water levels to extremely low levels, but why some show more striations while others show more hardness is down to individual physiology. They all correlate with low bodyfat and water levels, but the correlation is not perfect due to genetic factors.
SUCKMYMUSCLE