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Thread: Bodybuilding makes you slow and...

  1. #1
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    Bodybuilding makes you slow and...

    Remember that silliness that some still believe that BB makes you slow and stiff?
    Well...

    Here is former pro BB Flex Wheeler:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vL2TnTVKDu8&feature=fvsr

    Kevin Levrone sprinting
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1-yg...eature=related
    Psalms 144:1
    Praise be my Lord my Rock,
    He trains my hands for war, my fingers for battle !

  2. #2
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    It CAN make you slow, especially if you gain a lot of weight and don't do any conditioning.

    If you do conditioning WHILE you get bigger, you won't get slower. You'll most likely get a lot faster/more agile.
    It is better to have less thunder in the mouth and more lightning in the hand. - Apache Proverb

  3. #3
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    Quote Originally Posted by JamesC View Post
    It CAN make you slow, especially if you gain a lot of weight and don't do any conditioning.

    If you do conditioning WHILE you get bigger, you won't get slower. You'll most likely get a lot faster/more agile.
    Sure, anything makes you slow if you gain weight and do nothing, that is a given.
    Psalms 144:1
    Praise be my Lord my Rock,
    He trains my hands for war, my fingers for battle !

  4. #4
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    Doesn't matter how big someone is, give them enough steroids and HGH and they'll turn into a goddamn cheetah.

    I'm definitely not trying to defend the old limp wrist 90lb weakling justification for lack of strength but all other things being equal, lighter and smaller is always going to be faster.

  5. #5
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    And I can't tell from the video to what extent he has built his lower body muscles. Having a well developed upper body won't prevent you from kicking high.

    That being said, I agree with the sentiment that body building doesn't necessarily preclude flexibility. However, I believe there are ways to improve functional strength that are more efficient than bodybuilding. Typically, using much lower weight, higher rep can build more functional (for the purposes of MA) strength.
    Sith Legal Kung Fu is unstoppable.

  6. #6
    Greetings,

    Flex Wheeler: His arms are so heavy he can't hold them up to fight.

    Kevin Levrone: I am really sad for this guy. In that link he looked so roided up. Currently, he has depressed testosterone levels as a result of taking steroids. When he first showed up on the scene he really looked good and natural.

    I prefer the term "Strength Training" to "Bodybuilding". Bodybuilding brings to mind steroids, untested pharmaceuticals. Even the so called "natural bodybuilders" are selling out to pharmaceuticals. Last year, I picked up a magazine on natural bodybuilding and the editor said something so incredibly profound that it stuck with me long after I immediately threw it out. He wrote in very large letters that the best nutrition comes from a combination of: protein and free form amino acids.

    Back on topic: When ABC's Wide World of Sports had its annual Superstars competition, the strong guys did pretty well all around.


    mickey

  7. #7
    a distinction should be made between strength training(general) & bodybuilding(specific). bodybuilding seem primarily concern with muscle hypertrophy rather than optimal strength and functionality. here's an excerpt from an article by Tom Venuto that i found interesting:

    With low reps, the hypertrophy (size increase) of the muscle fibers is usually minimal. In other words, reps under 6 make you stronger, but they don't necessarily make you bigger if the strength gains come from adaptations in the nervous system - the muscle fibers and other muscle cell structures do not hypertrophy (enlarge). This explains why certain athletes, powerlifters and Olympic lifters can be wicked strong but they sometimes don't look as strong as they are.

    When you train with medium reps (6-12) the adaptations are more metabolic and cellular and only moderately neurological. This is why 8-12 reps is the range most often recommended for bodybuilding and hypertrophy. You get bigger AND stronger in this rep range, but your strength gains are not maximal. This explains why some bodybuilders look stronger than they are (and why they are often the brunt of jokes made by powerlifters and weight lifters; i.e. "big, weak, slow, useless muscles", ha ha ha).

    When you train with higher reps (13-20+), the adaptations are mostly metabolic, cellular and vascular. This rep range produces local muscular endurance, a small degree of hypertrophy in certain cellular components such as the mitochondria and the capillaries, and very little strength.

    There is not a distinct line where neural adaptations end and structural/metabolic adaptations begin; rather it is a continuum, like temperature or colors of a rainbow

  8. #8
    Hi dirtyrat,

    Yes, bodybuilding focuses upon the aesthetic. The appearance of strength is mostly a perceptual thing shaped by cultural ignorance and understanding. There was a time when bulging muscles did not stand for much. And that time is coming back with a passion. There was a time when people looked at a person's neck, once called a "stack", as an indicator of strength (as in "That guy has a 23 inch stack!! He's a friggin' monster!!).

    Bodybuilding also refers to a culture as well. That was what I was writing about.


    mickey

  9. #9
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    Myths are just that, and are normally put around by people who have no idea about what they are talking about and are jealous if what they see, tom platz was another bodybuilder with incredible flexibility, as for strength well a number of body builders also compete in powerlifting, and steroids doesn’t mean they are all show and no go, coleman pull in the 700 pounds range for lods sake, franco was a champion powerlifter so on and so on

    And I hate to break peoples bubbles but if you think bodybuilding is tainted by a drugs culture and some how strength training is more noble well I question where you have trained and what you have seen: powerlifitng, OL lifting (remember the entire Bulgarian team getting deported from the OL games one year?) and strongman are all rife with drugs, (as louie simmons once said there are no drug free meets just drug tested)

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by Frost View Post
    Myths are just that, and are normally put around by people who have no idea about what they are talking about and are jealous if what they see, tom platz was another bodybuilder with incredible flexibility, as for strength well a number of body builders also compete in powerlifting, and steroids doesn’t mean they are all show and no go, coleman pull in the 700 pounds range for lods sake, franco was a champion powerlifter so on and so on

    And I hate to break peoples bubbles but if you think bodybuilding is tainted by a drugs culture and some how strength training is more noble well I question where you have trained and what you have seen: powerlifitng, OL lifting (remember the entire Bulgarian team getting deported from the OL games one year?) and strongman are all rife with drugs, (as louie simmons once said there are no drug free meets just drug tested)
    What he said.
    I think that the whole muscle bound silliness has been shown over and over to be just that, silly, BUT we do know that the myth does indeed persist.
    I don't think it is fair to compare a pro bodybuilder that focuses soley on getting big and ripped with a gymnast ( in terms of flexibility) or a world class sprinter ( in terms of speed).
    My point was that those bodybuilders that do CHOOSE to be flexible or fast or whatever, can be just as flexible to fast and that their bulk doesn't hinder them as much as many people falsely believe.
    Psalms 144:1
    Praise be my Lord my Rock,
    He trains my hands for war, my fingers for battle !

  11. #11
    Greetings,

    Frost-- I see that you mentioned other competitive sports involving weight training. I do not give two humnps about them when it comes to the competitive element and you are right about them. I was referring to strength training for that purpose only: training for the development of strength. i should have added healthy and natural.

    By the way, did I ever talk to you about..........resistance bands?



    mickey

  12. #12
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    Quote Originally Posted by mickey View Post
    Greetings,

    Frost-- I see that you mentioned other competitive sports involving weight training. I do not give two humnps about them when it comes to the competitive element and you are right about them. I was referring to strength training for that purpose only: training for the development of strength. i should have added healthy and natural.

    By the way, did I ever talk to you about..........resistance bands?



    mickey
    so you were comparing competitive athletes with recreational hoobyiests, why? recreational body-builders are for the most part natural as well, iys apples and oranges

  13. #13
    Hi Frost,

    If you read my initial post, it was in reference to the use of the term "bodybuilder?". It is not a positive word anymore.


    mickey

  14. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by mickey View Post
    Hi Frost,

    If you read my initial post, it was in reference to the use of the term "bodybuilder?". It is not a positive word anymore.


    mickey
    I think that is a bit unfair to be honest ( though I don't disagree with you).
    The truth is that the vast majority train with weights to look good, ie: build their bodies.
    Pro bodybuilders are on an elite level all their own and I am not sure why people don't understand that.
    Bodybuilding is building the best looking body you can BUT it also MEANT the best effective body too ( though that has since been downgraded or ignored).
    The over development of current bodybuilders. one can argue, is not THEIR fault but a answer to the demand placed on them ( by judges and fans).
    I admire the amount of effort and training it takes to be a Dorian Yates or Ronnie Coleman or Lee Priest and anyone that doesn't really has no grasp of what it takes to get that way.
    Sure drugs play a huge part but they have ALWAYS played that part.

    Lets be honest here, this is their jobs, their 9-5 and just as we would be proud if we were considered the best in the world at doing our job, so are they.
    Psalms 144:1
    Praise be my Lord my Rock,
    He trains my hands for war, my fingers for battle !

  15. #15
    Hi sanjuro ronin,

    This is a clip of a 17 year old Lee Priest with his mom. What do you think? He looked like an amazing natural freak to me. For anyone who looks that good clean to have to use roids to step it up for competition is a serious blow to bodybuilding. Somebody has to stand strong and say that this is not the way to do things. And it slowly beginning to happen.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_MYGP95guo


    mickey

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