you must have initial mass in order to convert that into muscle, not strength. thats why skinny kids have a hard time gaining weight even when their numbers in the weight room are increasing.
u keep saying you must have that initial mass to convert into muscle.... what initial mass are you talking about... Fat does not convert to muscle!!
you get stronger and more muscle by exercising and durring a workout you slowly wear down your muscles and basicaly injure them in small incraments... that is why the rest period is so important. After you "injure" your muscles durring a work out your body heals itself by fixing the torn muscle fibers and adding more protein. When it heals it is slightly stronger.
This is why people take PROTEIN because they are trying to make sure that they have enough protein in their body to help heal and add onto their muscle.
Muscles are made out of PROTEIN... Love Handles are made out of FAT
They are two compleatly diffrent substances.
My main point is that you do not gain strength by gaining mass... you gain mass by gaining strength
It is not that the 135lb athleate can not get any stronger with that body, it is that as he gets stronger he will slowly gain more muscle mass.