Body Size and Strength.

Discussion in 'Health and Fitness' started by Ero-Sennin, Dec 30, 2005.

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  1. Ero-Sennin

    Ero-Sennin Well-Known Member Supporter

    I have a few questions to ask,

    I know that if you get bigger, you don't get slower and less flexible and whatnot. But if you were to get friggen huge, will that effect your athletic ability somewhat? My pops knew a guy playing semi pro football named Rhino, and he couldn't lift his arms all the way in the air because his shoulders were so big. Also, the guy got shot in the chest from close range and although I'm sure he was hurting . . . he was able to grab the guy who shot him and throw him over the balcony of the hotel he was staying in : P. That's not really relevant to anything but I thought it would be cool to add in. ( and I'm sure the gun was not that good of a quality either . . . . but still, it's a gun. )

    So, will size at a certain size effect anything at all?

    Also, is it possible to reach a desirable size, and stay that size and still gain more strength? So you could look like you could squat say . . . 500 lbs but could really do 800 lbs?
     
  2. pgm316

    pgm316 lifting metal

    I think the vast majority of people will never get that big unless they use steroids. Even then its hardcore bodybuilding you're talking about. And as long as you're doing the activity ie martial arts or whatever you do, you should maintain the flexibilty needed and not suddenly find yourself unable to get into a certain position.

    With regard to strength, you will continue to increase in size as you get stronger.
     
  3. harhar

    harhar I hate semaphores

    The guy probably had craptacular flexibility. Look at the huge guys at strongmen competitions, you dont see them having a problem hoisting heavy stuff overhead due to shoulder size.
     
  4. Combatant

    Combatant Monsiour Fitness himself.

    Depends on what you mean by friggin huge. If you mean like a juiced pro bodybuilder then yes it will. If you mean huge like a pro fighter then no it won't. It also depends on how you train. If you train just pure weights and no cardio then obviously your stamina will suffer. By having a lot of muscle mass your aerobic endurance will be low when compared to someone scrawny because your muscles require a lot of energy and oxygen to stay moving.

    That is impossible. He probably had an injury or mobility issues due to crap training and lack of flexibility.

    yes, it all depends what the sport is as to whether it will effect it for better or worse.

    Yes, very possible. The reverse is also true- there are people that look immensly strong but are very week. A good example is to look at the strongmen from days gone by. Many of them have performed feats that to this day can still not be beaten and they look half the size of todays strongmen competitors.
     
  5. Maverick

    Maverick New Member

    I disagree, for example, you won't squat 800lb unless you look like you can squat 800lbs.
     
  6. flaming

    flaming Valued Member

    The person who couldn't lift there arms only did bench press... probably. My dad had the same problem i think. He was given steroids in the under developed muscle and told to do dips and military presses as well as bench press. Alternating them.
     
  7. GhostOfYourMind

    GhostOfYourMind Bewaters lil Iron Monkey

    It's entirely possible to look weaker than you are or stronger than you are. It's all in how you train, what you train for, and how much ya eat.
     
  8. Knight_Errant

    Knight_Errant Banned Banned

    Flaming, there's nothing wrong with the bench press. If anything, it's fiddly little isolation exercises you want to avoid.
    The fact is that lean muscle mass has a very direct bearing on how strong you are. It's obviously possible to have higher relative strength than absolute strength- within reason. There's no way a 150-pound guy will ever be stronger than a 200 pound guy, unless the 50 pounds difference is fat.
     
  9. flaming

    flaming Valued Member

    Bench press is good, should it be balanced with dips and military presses?
     
  10. GhostOfYourMind

    GhostOfYourMind Bewaters lil Iron Monkey

    I'd say military press, yes, dips, no. You'd also need rows to help balance the bench press. One push, one pull.
     
  11. cxw

    cxw Valued Member

    But there are a lot of 150 pound competitive weightlifters and powerlifters who are stronger than 200 pound guys where the difference isn't fat. I'll agree that muscle size does matter (essentially the muscle fibre that contracts rather than sarcoplasm). There's quite a few other things that could make the 150 pound guy stronger:
    - The tendon insertion points
    - Central nervous system efficiency
    - Fast twitch percentage versus slow twich percentage. The more fast twitch you are the stronger you are, but you might loose on a strength endurance test to a slower twich individual
    - Limb length (for certain lifts the long limbed people will seem stronger, e.g. deadlift, whereas lifts such as the bench will make it seem like the short armed person is stronger)
     
  12. You haven't featured technique in that list. That's a pretty big factor in the olympic lifts.
     
  13. GhostOfYourMind

    GhostOfYourMind Bewaters lil Iron Monkey

    He was probably using powerlifting as an example (which still requires a proper technique, but is not as technical as oly lifting). But yes, technique plays a part as well (benching with an arch vs. without for example).
     
  14. lucas

    lucas Valued Member

    there was a pro bodybuilder called flex wheeler who had no problems hense the name.
    i think he also was a blackbelt in tkd or tsd.
     
  15. Maverick

    Maverick New Member

    None of those factors can make up for 50lbs of muscle and bone.
     
  16. TsukinoKage

    TsukinoKage New Member

    Yes it can.

    T. Pruzinsky, with the American record for DL in 114 weightclass deads over 360 lbs.

    My 200 lb. friend who lifts regularly and most certainly has much more muscle mass and bone than he does could only wish to dead that much (he maxes close to 300).
     
  17. GhostOfYourMind

    GhostOfYourMind Bewaters lil Iron Monkey

    If a 150 lb. guy is super efficient in his CNS (say olympic caliber oly weightlifter) vs. a 200 lb. guy with average CNS efficiency, then sure it can.:D I know neural efficiency can only take you so far, but hell, it can still go pretty damn far before it's necessary to add more mass (far enough at least).:D

    But I suppose, in the end, my favorite saying for cars applies here:

    "No substitute for cubic inches." :D (I think ya'll will get it)
     
  18. blessed_samurai

    blessed_samurai Valued Member

    Food for thought...the lower weight classes in weight lifting (oly lifting) are snatch and clean and jerking more than the heavier weight classes this year. It all goes back to the more muscle does not necessarily mean more strength.
     
  19. Maverick

    Maverick New Member

    You guys seem to assume for some reason that a 200lb guy will have less CNS efficiency. It goes back to the Bruce Lee thing about a 150lbs guy being faster, etc etc. Hogwash made up for small people. If such factors could make up for 50lbs of lean mass, then you would get flyweight boxers competing against heavyweights and beating them thanks to factors like the ones mentioned above, but it doesn't happen, not in boxing and not in weightlifting either.

    Oly lifts are not the best example to use because of the amount of technique involved. PL lifts are a better example. You'll find a good correlation between bodyweight and totals.
     
  20. cullion

    cullion Valued Member

    Caveat: I am not a powerlifter.

    I can understand how somebody with shorter arms might not need their muscles to be able to exert as much force in order to get a partcular weight over their head, due to leverage working against the guy with longer arms.

    If the lighter classes of lifter have indeed been putting up bigger weights than the heaver classes, this might be why.
     
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