trained vs untrained (melbourne q&a followup) weight gain/muscle loss

hello good doctors,

in your melbourne q&a, jordan mentioned that, in general, untrained folks can gain muscle “whilst” losing fat, and trained folks (generally) cannot. how are you defining “trained” and “untrained” here? i realize it’s a spectrum, but outside of the obvious (has never picked up a barbell; world record holder) what are some indicators and/or metrics we might use to place someone on this spectrum?

thanks!

There’s no clear dividing line that can be used to predict such a thing with any degree of confidence. It’s going to depend a lot on individual factors including genetics, anabolic sensitivity, and a whole host of other contextual factors.