Is Bodybuilding Crazy

[Guest guest]

Nate Mosher wrote: I think that most bodybuilding competitions are not very

athletic at

all either. What skill is required to pose your muscles . . . but it's still

not athletic. . . . It's a case of " but what else can you do with those

muscles besides lift a weight and flex it? "

***Preparing for a bodybuilding show requires a great deal of training and

discipline in the gym. We think this type of training is athletic. It is a

popular misconception that bodybuilders are not themselves athletes, i.e. they

lack strength, they are uncoordinated, they lack flexibility, and they cannot

perform dynamic compound movements required by most other sports.

Using muscles to lift weight is a matter of choice and adaptation. If you

were to move a bodybuilder into another sport, very likely he/she would adapt

very quickly. In fact, many bodybuilders become so after participating in

other sports, and often they bodybuild vs. powerlift (although many do both)

or some other strength activity after injury makes the latter impossible.

Contrary to rumor, most bodybuilders are immensely powerful. What can be said

is that their large muscles are, in many cases, proportionately less

functional than an olympic or powerlifter because the latter two endeavors

involve learning a skill in addition to having a great deal of strength. Just

last week we saw one of the top bodybuilders leg pressing with 1,800 pounds

for multiple sets and reps. This is not exactly a weenie workout!

As far as posing, if you've ever tried it, you know it's not nearly as easy as

good posers make it look. It's tough physically, i.e. contracting the muscles

requires endurance, but that's only part of it. To learn to pose so your body

looks good to an audience and a judge, takes hours of practice and might

better be compared to formal dance or figure skating, which are certainly

athletic endeavors, the difference being static vs. dynamic. The top posing

teacher in the U.S., Russ Testo, an ex-professional dancer. Some people are

much more talented when it comes to learning this type of movement than

others. Also, like dancers, the person posing does not have a mirror on

stage, and therefore must internalize his/her movements based on training.

It is not at all unusual to see a top bodybuilder do the splits on stage.

Last Saturday at the Max Muscle Classic, Tito , did a standing back

flip on stage as part of a guest posting routine. The height of this flip

left the entire audience aghast. Tito is a big guy (although not particularly

tall). We would guess his entire body was a minimum of three feet off the

ground as he flipped and he landed doing a split. From his abilities, we

would guess Tito probably started life as a gymnast. One person in the

audience remarked that he had been a top cheerleader in college.

Other things notable about good posers are their ability to move to the rhythm

of the music with very graceful transitions from one pose to another. You

will also see some do various dance movements as well as being able to isolate

and dynamically move various muscles while others remain static. Not everyone

can do this so this obviously takes muscle control and training.

<And I believe that's why bodybuilding will never, in it's current

state, be an Olympic event. And it shouldn't be.>

*** We agree. Bodybuilding in the Olympics is Ben Weider's pipe dream. In

our opinion bodybuilding is poorly suited for the Olympic format, the primary

reason being because it is much too subjective. What we'd like to see added

is powerlifting. It is a no-brainer to pick the winner. He/she who lifts

the most weight within the rules, takes home the Gold.

Jim and Rosemary Vernon

Venice, CA

[Guest guest]

Nate Mosher wrote: I met Levrone in person at a bodybuilding show back

in

college. He outweighed me by about 40 pounds at the time, even

though I'm about 8 or 9 inches taller than he is. He couldn't even

walk without his legs rubbing together!

** Oh, yeah, there are some of these people who are just so over-hypertrophied

that they can hardly move. Hardcore fans call this " freaky, " a condition

that most definitely does not appeal to the general public. On the other

hand, if you go to local shows, you will see some really beautiful looking

bodies and the contestants can actually walk like normal humans. For most

people who train with appearance being one of the reasons (by definition,

" bodybuilding " ), this kind of physique tends to be something to strive for.

Even though Muscle Media has taken some hits from its former readers who were

disappointed in the shift (myself included), I will admit that the men they

feature have gorgeous physiques. The women are just so-so because MM2K seems

more interested in somewhat of a soft look. As I said before, I liked the way

McLish looked when she won the Ms. O. Another gal that is just

terrific is Mia Finnegan, who was an early fitness competitor and I believe

the first winner of the Miss Fitness Olympia.

Although the physiques described in Paragraph 2 above are more of the desired

ideal, they are not all that easy to attain for the average person. It takes

years of hard work with some attention to one's diet.

As far as posing, it is excellent exercise in and of itself. I have learned

some of it and can tell you that it takes a lot of effort. A double biceps

pose, for example, requires that almost every muscle in your body is flexed,

that you stand up straight with your body in proper alignment and look like

the whole thing was effortless. This is one of the easier poses. I think

the lat spread is the hardest, yet a lot of the pro BBers learn how to flex

one lat at a time. Another thing about posing is that is will really show you

up. If you have a normal layer of fat, the muscles don't show particularly

well, if at all, even if you contract your them until the sweat rolls down

your back! This is most frustrating especially with the quads because you

feel like your leg is about to fall off yet you can't see the cuts.

BTW, thanks for your kind remarks about my posts, Nate. I'm flattered.

Rosemary Wedderburn-Vernon

Venice, CA