In Which I Defend Barry Bonds
January 18th 2007 11:30
I am not an avid fan of baseball. I am not an avid fan of Barry Bonds. I have not followed very closely the soap opera in the sporting press relative to his alleged use of performance enhancing drugs to power his way toward Hank Aaron. I have heard my fair share of discussions in the sports press about Bonds and drugs. I do not have a clue in the world about his guilt or innocence. I am, however, going to speak up for Bonds,because the fact is that any aging weight trainer like me can give you an insight into the situation that a pencil necked pencil pusher cannot:Barry Bonds could quite plausibly have gained the size and strength increases which he clearly has without drugs and while watching his 30s give way to his 40s.
Barry Bonds is a professional athlete at least to some extent because he is physically gifted with a body that readily gains muscles as well as extraordinary reflexes and hand-eye coordination. He is also a member of the first real generation of baseball players who have embraced weight training over the length of a career. Bonds is,then, one of the first real star players to weight train his way into his latter years. Certainly Aaron's body changed in composition over his career. He was not, as far as I know, a systematic weight trainer, but his strength was clearly greater at the end of his career. Bonds is a weight trainer and to fairly judge his achievement one ought to at least wonder whether a man at his age can do what he has done with his muscle mass without steroids etc.
The simple unvarnished no myth truth is that he could have. I know this because I personally know men who have a decade on Bonds and are significantly more muscular now than they were in their 30s. Yes, there is a lot of gym rat in these men; on the other hand they have jobs and families and no monetary incentive to put out the time and effort muscle mass demands.
Bonds has a professional reason for the pursuit of muscle and, to say the least,cash to spare. Isn't it reasonable that he avail himself of whatever bodybuilding can offer a person such as himself. He can employ personal trainers and consult the finest muscle scientists there are.Phil Mickelson employed a trainer a few years ago and had a significantly improved year on the golf tour. Look at Tiger Woods these days. I say he's training with weights and considerably more muscular. The NBA is fully of bodies to which weights have added some serious muscle. The only real difference with Bonds is the 40s part.
Peruse a bodybuilding magazine and you will encounter a dizzying array of completely legal supplements that promise everything from more energy for maximum intensity workouts to whey proteins and compounds which support recovery and more exotic fair that bolster flagging testosterone. One item alone, the completely legal creatine, could increase Bond's strength at least 25%. Why would he not undertake to gain this kind of advantage? We really don't know what a man in his 40s can do assisted by these new high tech supplements.
I suggest that the sports press is woefully ignorant about the extent to which weight training can optimize the physical strength of men well into their forties and fifties. I believe Bonds could have done it in the final analysis because I, as a normal mortal, experienced increased strength and work capacity into my 50s. My 35 year old self would be left exhausted on the weight room floor by my 50 year old self. And Barry Bonds I ain't. Your servant,as always.
Could this be Barry's(completely legal) Secret? www.lef.org
Barry Bonds is a professional athlete at least to some extent because he is physically gifted with a body that readily gains muscles as well as extraordinary reflexes and hand-eye coordination. He is also a member of the first real generation of baseball players who have embraced weight training over the length of a career. Bonds is,then, one of the first real star players to weight train his way into his latter years. Certainly Aaron's body changed in composition over his career. He was not, as far as I know, a systematic weight trainer, but his strength was clearly greater at the end of his career. Bonds is a weight trainer and to fairly judge his achievement one ought to at least wonder whether a man at his age can do what he has done with his muscle mass without steroids etc.
The simple unvarnished no myth truth is that he could have. I know this because I personally know men who have a decade on Bonds and are significantly more muscular now than they were in their 30s. Yes, there is a lot of gym rat in these men; on the other hand they have jobs and families and no monetary incentive to put out the time and effort muscle mass demands.
Bonds has a professional reason for the pursuit of muscle and, to say the least,cash to spare. Isn't it reasonable that he avail himself of whatever bodybuilding can offer a person such as himself. He can employ personal trainers and consult the finest muscle scientists there are.Phil Mickelson employed a trainer a few years ago and had a significantly improved year on the golf tour. Look at Tiger Woods these days. I say he's training with weights and considerably more muscular. The NBA is fully of bodies to which weights have added some serious muscle. The only real difference with Bonds is the 40s part.
These are 40 something Barry's Friends for sure.
Peruse a bodybuilding magazine and you will encounter a dizzying array of completely legal supplements that promise everything from more energy for maximum intensity workouts to whey proteins and compounds which support recovery and more exotic fair that bolster flagging testosterone. One item alone, the completely legal creatine, could increase Bond's strength at least 25%. Why would he not undertake to gain this kind of advantage? We really don't know what a man in his 40s can do assisted by these new high tech supplements.
I suggest that the sports press is woefully ignorant about the extent to which weight training can optimize the physical strength of men well into their forties and fifties. I believe Bonds could have done it in the final analysis because I, as a normal mortal, experienced increased strength and work capacity into my 50s. My 35 year old self would be left exhausted on the weight room floor by my 50 year old self. And Barry Bonds I ain't. Your servant,as always.
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Comment by Joe Blogg
Joe Blogg's Blog
manchesterunited
collingwoodfootballclub
Their arms are quite massive.
Comment by Anonymous