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Other/Mixed Alan Thrall: Why I Started Bodybuilding

Other strength modalities (e.g., Clubs), mixed strength modalities (e.g., combined kettlebell and barbell), other goals (flexibility)
watchnerd

watchnerd

Level 8 Valued Member
Alan's discovery and perception of usefulness of bodybuilding for non-physique-strength-athletes, getting older, and for general health pretty much mirrors my own and why I do a hypertrophy block or two every year instead of just strength training all the time:

 
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I’d imagine this ties into why built strong is so popular.
Besides if you are seriously working towards being the strongest you that you can be, you have to add some muscle at some point. Bromley had a great video on this with his critique of powerlifting and people never changing weight classes from when they start and end up burning out from no progress.

I have a hunch that the wide open weight classes in strongman contributes to the powerlifting to strongman pipeline. Someone gets stuck in their PL weight class, switch to SM and suddenly have permission to add 30lbs. Suddenly they almost effortlessly get stronger compared to what they did before.
Steve Freides said:
At about 1:40 in the video: "We all lift weights to get bigger muscles; there's no denying this."

Yes, there is denying this.

-S-
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the number of people that want to lift consistently for years, get strong, and look like they haven’t lifted anything heavier than a soup can in their life has to be much closer to zero than the mean. I’d put it in the technically false, practically true category.
 
Great timing. I’ve quite recently realised I need basic bodybuilding/assistance type training on some of my weak points, and that I’ve probably held my strength back by not doing it. I’ve always just focussed on the main lift.

Things like rows ( my press doesn’t seem to be as strong as it should ), and some kind of split squat/single leg work( my right leg is weaker than my left ) and a few other things. All at 3x8 to 4x12.

Have even had pretty good success recently fixing my elbow tendinitis by increasingly heavier wrist curls.

Promise I’ll stop when my wife says I’m swole
 
silveraw said:
I’d imagine this ties into why built strong is so popular.
Besides if you are seriously working towards being the strongest you that you can be, you have to add some muscle at some point. Bromley had a great video on this with his critique of powerlifting and people never changing weight classes from when they start and end up burning out from no progress.

I have a hunch that the wide open weight classes in strongman contributes to the powerlifting to strongman pipeline. Someone gets stuck in their PL weight class, switch to SM and suddenly have permission to add 30lbs. Suddenly they almost effortlessly get stronger compared to what they did before.

the number of people that want to lift consistently for years, get strong, and look like they haven’t lifted anything heavier than a soup can in their life has to be much closer to zero than the mean. I’d put it in the technically false, practically true category.
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Some people do successfully stick to a weight class and develop all the same, to world class levels.

I think we also have to separate getting stronger absolutely Vs relatively. You may get stronger going up a weight class, but are you getting more competitive in your new weight class?

SHWs and strongmen are different. But I don't think just getting fatter helps that much. There's only that much muscle you can pack on.

I do think it can be a good idea for an athlete to go up in weight. I think it can make a dramatic difference once in a career, depending on the situation. And some manage to go back down and keep the gains. However, as we know how difficult mass is to put on and how little we can do it, I doubt it's a repeatable process with much success.

PEDs likely change the situation somewhat. But they come with the caveat of possibly having to go up a weight class. Their impact seems big, but it's absolute, not as much relative to bodyweight.

JM Blakely did wonders with his weight. If anyone hasn't been to his openpowerlifting page, I heartily recommend it. Have a look at the scale weights, the dates, and the performance.
 
silveraw said:
the number of people that want to lift consistently for years, get strong, and look like they haven’t lifted anything heavier than a soup can in their life has to be much closer to zero than the mean. I’d put it in the technically false, practically true category.
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I'd never taken one of those "hold your phone up to the mirror and take your own picture" selfies until a couple of months ago, but I was getting ready for my wife to cut my hair, looked at myself in the bathroom mirror after I'd taken off my shirt, and decided to do push the button.

I lift to be healthy and strong, and I look, I think, healthy and strong. Form follows function.

selfie.jpg

is what this 68-year-old powerlifter, who doesn't want to get any bigger, looks like. And I think there are plenty of LEO's, martial artists, and others who train for function first and foremost.

-S-
 
watchnerd said:
Alan's discovery and perception of usefulness of bodybuilding for non-physique-strength-athletes, getting older, and for general health pretty much mirrors my own and why I do a hypertrophy block or two every year instead of just strength training all the time:
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Probably won't get around to watching the video, but yeah, it's a good idea to mix things up. Like eating a variety of foods, training different strength and athletic qualities just makes sense over the longer haul from a health and training longevity standpoint. I can't speak for everyone, but I think a lot of us get carried away w. specificity, often so much so that we break down before reassessing what we are doing for "gpp".
 
1) Other well-informed people like Peter Attia also seem to train for hypertrophy and ascribe quite a lot of value in maintaining muscle mas in old age.

2) I have not met that many people who are strong and skinny. I am sure they exist, but I have not met them yet. To some degree maybe this is a bit the same problem as if one regular guy would ask: What should I do if all of a sudden my six-pack got too visible ?

3) I think it does something with my psychology every time I say to myself: I will perform this exercise only to get bigger muscles. I simply just feel more vain and vulnerable in a bad way. Maybe it is a bit like: We all want to be as handsome and beautiful as we could be, but plastic surgery would feel wrong for many of us (to phrase it in an extreme way).

4) I do however like to get bigger and always wish it to happen, but I prefer to be a byproduct. After I switched to having strength goals instead of muscle goals, I felt much more relaxed and confident. I feel there is just something with bodybuilding that fuels insecurity.
 
FWIW, because my new house has a basement with a short ceiling and I haven't set up the squat rack yet (it's summer, I'd rather be outside), I did an all DB workout.

Incline DB bench press, chest supported DB rows, walking DB lunges (barf), concentration curls, DB skull crushers.

Weights were modest, but because it was novel and all unilateral, I can feel the impact today.

So mix things up, kids.
 
Anders said:
I simply just feel more vain and vulnerable in a bad way.
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Easy fix:

Do it in the sun shirtless.

By the time you get used to being half nekkid in public, you'll be less self-conscious, jacked, and tan.

Nudists have it right.

I've discovered that one of the benefits of moving to the beach is a lot of my neighbors walk around half naked all the time and just don't care what people think about how they look. None of them have perfect bodies. They probably have great Vitamin D.
 
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Steve Freides said:
I lift to be healthy and strong, and I look, I think, healthy and strong. Form follows function.

is what this 68-year-old powerlifter, who doesn't want to get any bigger, looks like. And I think there are plenty of LEO's, martial artists, and others who train for function first and foremost.
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I know it's not your intention, but you're kind of setting up a bit of a false dichotomy here.
 
Steve Freides said:
At about 1:40 in the video: "We all lift weights to get bigger muscles; there's no denying this."

Yes, there is denying this.

-S-
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Agreed. Whilst I do like looking like I lift it’s actually beneficial for my sports performance to be smaller so I construct my training to avoid it as much as possible.

I do agree though that most people who say they don’t care about adding muscle to their frame are actually in denial or lying. They do exist obviously but they are absolutely not the norm.
 
Simply strong said:
I do agree though that most people who say they don’t care about adding muscle to their frame are actually in denial or lying. They do exist obviously but they are absolutely not the norm.
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Or they don't understand what they're saying:

"I don't want to get too big, just toned..."

"Toned" is widely misunderstood as somehow not being related to hypertrophy.
 
watchnerd said:
Last night's dinner was kimchi tripe and bitter melon.
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Thank you for not in inviting me over.:)

Anders said:
1) Other well-informed people like Peter Attia also seem to train for hypertrophy and ascribe quite a lot of value in maintaining muscle mas in old age.
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This is where I feel I am misunderstood. Sarcopenia refers to someone with a normal, non-exercisers amount of muscle, and then losing what little they had. At least that’s how I think of it. It’s possible, as I do now, to have a little bit more muscle than the average non-exercising person, and to train so as not to lose that muscle as you age. In particular, I now train in ways that would have put muscle on me 20 years ago but now they just help me keep what I have. Barbell squatting is my prime example.

So I think it can be dangerous to oversimplify the conversation and say that to be healthy one needs to train for hypertrophy. In my opinion, to age healthily means to have a good amount of muscle mass through adulthood, and then train so as not to lose that muscle mass as one ages. Bodybuilding does not need to enter the picture at any age, except in so far as bodybuilding training strategies may be more applicable to older trainings.

-S-
 
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