what happened to men?

[inic]

was just watching some movie, dont know the name. but was obviously a 50/60's movie. i was just thinking about how the men back there had totally different physiques than men today. the men back then weren't jack and didnt even have a 6 pack, yet they obviously were in shape. Do you think our physicality changed over the years? i'm wondering who's in better shape, the men back then, or men today. i'm personally think the men back then were, even if they werent as jacked or tone'd looking as men today are. you guys follow this? or am i making no sense?
i just think most of the 'inshape' fad of today is all about looks and not actually errrr 'inshapeness'

[ewallace]

For those from both generations that qualify....

I think today's folks are in better shape, but I think that the men from the 50's - 60's were stronger mentally and physically.

And I have absolutely no medical or scientific evidence to support this opinion.

[StarBoy]

I personally think it's all about raising the bar and basically making the "perfect" physique a harder and harder (and specifically more and more expensive) goal to maintain.

As for who is more in shape, that all depends on how you look at it. If you take the entire male population back then and the entire male population today, they are more in shape. Obeisity and other disorders related to inactivity has been on the rise since the invention of fast food. However, if we were to limit it to the population of men who lead an active lifestyle in both time periods, I'd still say the men of then. Men today really aren't as healthy as we might think. To achieve todays standards of "perfection", one of the key aspects of for men to drop their body fat percentage to an extremely low amount. Futhermore, a lot of the nutritional suppliments that are frequently used will eventually kill your liver. No matter how you look on the outside, the guy with the liver always wins over the guy without. And as for being mentally stronger, I'm not sure what ewallace meant by that.

If we were to limit the population further to martial artists, I might think that men today are more in shape then men then. A significant amount of people who study martial arts over a long period of time are not the type of people to buckle under some absurd societal pressure to look "good". Of course, there are a lot of people out there who use martial arts to make themselves look better (like in the "coolness" sense) *cough cough* TKD *cough cough*, and it's more on the rise now than back in the 50s and 60s, but I'm mainly talking about serious martial artists.

Anywhos, I've babbled for long enough...

[ewallace]

by mentally stronger I meant that they did not have a balley's or gold's gym on every corner, or a bowflex in their house. They did not have GNCs. They Usually did it by manual labor and/or freeweights.

I think alot of folks today also look too much for shortcuts instead of good old fashioned hard work.

Like I said I have no real evidence to back it up. Just a generalization I made when I thought about it.

[rubthebuddha]

the shortcut idea is right. fewer and few people are doing jobs that require them to get off their bums, and those that do work out get no exercise during the day and have little time at night to work, and thus put in 45 minutes on machines that only isolate muscles, not incorporate them.

do a typical workout you find in a magazine like men's health, and the results will get you a defined physique after a while. do one of ironfist's strength workouts, and the results won't get you as pretty, but after some deadlifts, medicine ball work and a zillion pushups, you'll be as strong as an ox.

take this one muscle: to exercise a hamstring, most gym jocks and bunnies lie down on a leg curl machine, do their couple sets, then move on with tired hamstrings. back in the day, more common were exercises like weighted lunges, which still worked your quads, maybe calves, bum, etc.

that, and people back then WORKED for a living.

sadly, i'm an office jockey, too. :(

[inic]

" think alot of folks today also look too much for shortcuts instead of good old fashioned hard work"


thats the motto of american
no one wants to put any effort into anything. People always ask me to write a diet or exercise program and after a week of it, they give up with the usual excuses being, "no time, no money, i lost the paper,i forget" no one wants to say the truth, which is theyre too f'ing lazy to do what i write for them.

[inic]

a good example i look at is my grandfather whos 65, and still strong as hell. he lived his life doing all labor work and 'real' work. he doesnt look healthy according to today standards but i'd love to see somone try to jump him. haha, would they get a surprise

[IronFist]

Well, back then hairy chests were considered sexy, so you couldn't see a six pack anyway.

IronFist

[inic]

grrrrr, and whats wrong witha hairy chest! being hairy is still sexy! well, i tell myself that since i get mistaken for a monkey often.... i'm told european girls like hairy guys. looks like i'll be moving then!

[inic]

thats another thing i always thought about.... when did being bald n bare become 'the thing". guys were still hairy in the 70's and 80's. sometime between 85-90, men just become hairless and started to be the norm.... weird. are most guys nowadays really hairless? or is it all wax and razors? i think it has a lot to do with the food nowadays also

[rubthebuddha]

food nowadays is ass.

just like everything else in life, the best results are hard earned. the worst food for us is the easiest obtained, but the truly nummy stuff requires more work to cook or more money to buy, or usually a combination of the two.

[Liokault]

As a hairy european guy....its a myth....or maybe the chicks dont like me as im bald?

[Helicopter]

Sean Connery was a 'champion' body builder before doing James Bond, if you look at him in Dr No you wouldn't think it when comparing to today's BBuilders.
Generally i think the gap between the 'fit' and 'unfit' is getting wider. The bell curve is getting broader and broader.

[12345]

I agree about the gap between the fit and the unfit, the healthy and the unhealthy growing wider.

[guohuen]

That idea has been running around in my head for a while. I think your spot on.

[Cyborg]

So I finally made the "upper class"! Physically speaking that is.

I think that that trend has had a huge effect on health care. Most people used to work, or at least stayed active with their lives right up 'til the time they died. Nowadays they sit indoors while watching tv and linger on their deathbed for 20 years after they retire.

And what is wrong with having a bald head and a hairy chest I'd like to know? (I've been told by several people that I look like Pavel)...:p

My personal theory on the hairless look is it must be all the soy...

[GunnedDownAtrocity]

you also notice how all the tricks you see people doing for cameras during the 30s - 60s were done by normal looking dudes in suits and hats?


like the clips you see of these guys doing backflips with their dogs, running da mn quick up the sides of two buildings horizontally, standing on the tops of polls for hours or even days, or even just flippin their women around in crazy ways.

there was absolutley no point to my post.

[StarBoy]

Someone mentioned in this thread about doing exercises in Men's Health. Do not do that!!! That magazine is a joke (my sister used to work for them and she gave me the inside scoop). Their "experts" seriously don't know what they're doing. Sometimes I pick up one just to see where they are at, and I see the most messed up things in there. One time, I saw an exercise in there that can actually simultaneously result in a torn rotator cuff AND slipped disk.

They really don't know what they're doing. And just to give you an idea of how bad their "experts" are, my sister was the resident "sexpert". I should mention that my sister (as much as I love her) is a cat lady who hates men and hasn't had a steady boyfriend since high school (and she's 26 now).

Stay away from that magazine. Chances are your martial arts instructor can give you some tips (that's how I got my program).

Also, as for the quick fix thing, I can't agree more. I work in a pharmacy part time and I always see people going for the Metabolife and all that crap. The stuff never works and just damages your liver and heart. I remember this one time this really beautiful woman came in and was asking for advice on the stuff. I told her she really didn't need it and she looked good, but she said that her boyfriend thinks she's too fat. That was just messed up.

[guohuen]

I intuitively knew that.

[Kristoffer]

This is an amusing thread :)
ppl were stronger back then when there werent no tv, computer, stereo set, hell or even cars! The more u move I guess u get more fit?

[dnc101]

[url]http://forum.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?- #@%*. Oh, to heck with it. Just go to Really good news/really bad news, by 12345.