Once you max out the aerobic potential of the muscle tissue that you currently have, the only way to see further increases in performance is to first develop new muscle and then build its aerobic capacity
Basically, the aerobic potential has to do with the Krebs cycle and specifically the conversion of isocitrate to alpha-ketoglutarate (yeah, I had to look that up). So an increase in muscle mass wouldn't really increase the efficiency of the chemical process of the Krebs cycle. Nor would it increase Lactate Threshold or Onset Blood Lactic Acid. The two studies that I've seen suggest that there is a shift in LT and OBLA to the right due to hormone release and high exercise intensities, not more muscle mass. I mean we are talking about the efficiency of the cell to oxidize fat and carbs here and maybe they are trying to say that, once this has reached it's maximum capacity you would need more cells and more cells are found in new muscle mass? Maybe, but that would cause more questions than answer for me.
At the end of the day, muscle mass is only a correlate to contractile potential, meaning the larger the muscle belly the more contractile potential there is. There are a lot of factors about the actualization of that potential. Not to mention all the resource requirements to maintain the extra mass on the machine. The amount of oxygen required goes up, the amount of ATP and ADP to move the machine, all go up and it takes a long time to develop the aerobic base and all the other cellular changes necessary to become efficient with the new mass.
In rowing, or some sports, I suppose you could argue that the mass helps with momentum and velocity so there might be an argument there, and I'm sure that has some costs to it beyond which it is not a good idea to weight more, but as for an increase in aerobic efficiency, not that I can see.
To increase your aerobic base without significant loss of power is a delicate proposition. One we will save for another day.
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