Beginner Basics:Weightlifter or Bodybuilder
May 10th 2007 13:52
You may use weight training to do two related but fundamentally distinct things. If you are interested in general fitness it is important that you know the difference. The different purposes to which weight training can be applied are embodied in the physical characteristics of bodybuilders vs Olympic weight lifters.
Olympic weight lifters are intent, of course, on successfully executing their proscribed lifts with as much weight as possible. Bodybuilders are intent upon creating the largest muscles possible and this in such a way that their bodies display the most proportion possible. It is true that relative to bodybuilders weight lifters need not display huge muscle or even anything approximating proportional development. Bodybuilders are, in contrast, not necessarily profoundly strong.
This all means that these different athletes pursue weight training with different intentions and get different results. Weight lifting with its focus on increasing weight is entirely ad hoc in its approach. The lifter does not engage in training for body parts beyond their immediate function in a lift. Weight lifters also pay close attention to the volume of their work and tend to refrain from rapidly paced workouts with lots of sets. Their diet is one designed to maximize muscle growth but less tuned to limiting body fat.
Bodybuilders train everything and they tend to focus on high volume workouts in which muscles are stimulated to grow larger by the simple mass of work they are required to perform. Muscles are thus trained from a variety of angles to inspire tissue growth for its own sake. Strength alone is secondary to the pursuit of hypertrophy. Diet is the central component in bodybuilding because large muscles coated in fat are not aesthetically appealing.
If you are undertaking a weight program it is more important than you might think that you decide whether you are interested in strength or aesthetics. The approach you take to training is dependent on this decision. If you want strength primarily for its own sake or to enhance some athletic pursuit, you are better served to study the training techniques of weight lifters. If being in shape to you is at least somewhat aesthetic,you will want to seek knowledge from bodybuilders. Your servant, as always
This all means that these different athletes pursue weight training with different intentions and get different results. Weight lifting with its focus on increasing weight is entirely ad hoc in its approach. The lifter does not engage in training for body parts beyond their immediate function in a lift. Weight lifters also pay close attention to the volume of their work and tend to refrain from rapidly paced workouts with lots of sets. Their diet is one designed to maximize muscle growth but less tuned to limiting body fat.
Bodybuilders train everything and they tend to focus on high volume workouts in which muscles are stimulated to grow larger by the simple mass of work they are required to perform. Muscles are thus trained from a variety of angles to inspire tissue growth for its own sake. Strength alone is secondary to the pursuit of hypertrophy. Diet is the central component in bodybuilding because large muscles coated in fat are not aesthetically appealing.
If you are undertaking a weight program it is more important than you might think that you decide whether you are interested in strength or aesthetics. The approach you take to training is dependent on this decision. If you want strength primarily for its own sake or to enhance some athletic pursuit, you are better served to study the training techniques of weight lifters. If being in shape to you is at least somewhat aesthetic,you will want to seek knowledge from bodybuilders. Your servant, as always
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