Perhaps you are correct and I am totally wrong. But with that said, Do I believe the evidence before my lying eyes?
One of the more glaring examples before the public is Arnold Schwarzenegger. Compare recent pictures to his Movie era pictures. I’ve seen this several times in my life.
As I was told many years ago, to keep in good shape means you must continue to be active, don’t become a couch potato and stay away from desk jobs that tie you to that desk. (That’s last one is a personal one from me.)
All I have said, and perhaps not in a good way, is that an athlete who has trained themselves to a peak where they have little body fat has to watch themselves after they stop that training regimen so that they don’t go to fat.
So does muscle turn to fat? Probably not, but it does lose it’s tone if not maintained. Change the diet much and fat can and does form if the calories are not burned off.
If you find fault with that, so be it. My own experience in life has shown that to be true.
But what you say is true of everybody, not just athletes. We’ll all look and feel horrible and put on weight if we sit around on our backsides all day. Has nothing to do with being a former athlete.
Muscle cannot turn to far. Having muscles will help you keep fat off. Arnold is is far better shape than 90 percent of males his age.
The problem that does occur in some cases is that competitive athletes whilst training and competing ingest massive ammount of calories. Michael Phelps is on something like 8000 kcals a day. He only manages it by eating lots of fast food like french fries and mcdonald’s burgers and shakes (no joke).
If you keep up such a caloric intake whilst stopping your physical calori burning activity, of course the caloric surplus will be stored as body fat.
On the other hand, a person who has formerly been in shape as a lot easier time shedding that fat again. That is why virtually everyone who wins physical transformation competitions - going from flab to fab as the Brits say - have formerly been in very good physical shape.
Cheers.