Ouestion of the Month

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by: POWERSHAK

Ouestion of the Month
Question: How related are big muscles to good physical condition? I have always wondered why, for example, bodybuilders appear to be in much finer shape than many Olympic champions in other sports, but it seems that the professional athletes are in better shape and in a sharper state of fitness. Is this true, or what?
Gary
Answer: You’ve raised a very interesting point, Gary. The debate has been raging for decades about the fitness value of a bodybuilder’s muscles and size, and people wonder just how related a great build is to super-fitness. Anyone who has ever read about, heard of or seen Jack LaLanne, to mention one example, should put to rest nonsensical notions that sound fitness and condition are not the by products of proper weight training. They certainly are if you train correctly.

The problem is that as bodybuilding progressed through the late 90’s and early 2000’s in America the trend was toward size only—and the pumping and cramping and extended routines took over. Prior to that (and, even today) training was and is conducted as a form of sensible physical culture whereby the whole body received a hard workout perhaps three to four times weekly, and a training session that lasted an hour and a half was considered long. Men of the 40's, 50's and 60's like Grimek, Sandow, Jowett, Klein, et al, were examples of all-round fitness, health, athletic ability AND big muscles. True, their muscles were not as big as the muscles we see today. But they didn’t need to train all day, they didn’t use drugs, and they achieved a much more balanced level of total conditioning—fitness, physique, muscles, strength, health, etc.

Today, when you see a Mr. Winner you are not necessarily seeing a man who can use his impressively-developed muscles to their limit. Often, you are not even looking at honestly-developed muscles! (I mean, of course, that most of the advanced men today use drugs.) If we were to rate, say, a typical entrant in a Mister Contest alongside a typical gymnast or swimmer, etc., I dare say the more conventional athlete would be most likely to achieve more on a conditioning-fitness test. But this is due more to the fact that the “pure bodybuilders” generally due their cardio conditioning and fitness work in their routines for contest preparations and to increase their GPP for bodybuilding.

Bodybuilders who adhere more to the so-called “outdated” methods that we advocate find that they achieve muscles, fitness, total conditioning, athletic ability, flexibility and superb health. So, as you can see, there is no easy answer to your question! It depends upon who we observe and how he trains! Keep training hard and keep that attitude positive!



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