Bodybuilding vs. Strength-Building
UFC Fighter Frank Mir
When former UFC Heavyweight Champion Frank Mir was unable to reclaim his title against Brock Lesnar in their 2009 rematch, he realized that to return victorious, he would have to work on one thing more than anything else… gaining significant size!
Overwhelmed and overpowered in the fight against the 300lb powerhouse Brock Lesnar, Frank Mir (weighing in at 245lb) might have had a greater skill set than Brock, but simply had no way of executing them due to a significant disadvantage in strength and power.
Upon his return to the octagon exactly 5 months later, Frank had gained significant size, weighing in at 264.5lb. Showing no signs of loss in athleticism and tremendous increase in strength and power – in his flawless victory against French fighter Cheick Kongo, Frank very publicly let it be known that in the past, when he had trained bodybuilding to gain size for the purpose of gaining strength and power, he had managed to gain size, but at the cost of losing strength, power and athleticism. This time round, determined to return faster and stronger than ever before, Frank had teamed up with seven-time World’s Strongest Man participant Mark Philippi, who’s focus was on strength building rather than bodybuilding exercises.
Because both bodybuilding and strength building exercises involve lifting weights, many people mistake these two training disciplines as being one and the same – when in actual fact, they are worlds apart.
The Ancients
The Greek God Zeus
Weight-training was initially practiced by the Ancient Greeks and Egyptians as a means to gaining strength and power. The Greek and Egyptian Gods were thought of as powerful mighty warriors, possessing unsurpassed strength. Hence, the celebration of the human body taking the shape of their idolized Gods was one of the ideals of their societies. Men would primarily use stones of various sizes and weights to transform their bodies –not only for the purposes of gaining physical appeal, but primarily for the purposes of gaining physical strength, power and athleticism.
Strongmen – From Entertainment to Sport
Throughout history, displays of brut male strength have always been a way of entertainment. Late in 19th century Europe however, lifting heavy objects for entertainment enabled the strongest of men to become professional strongmen. The growing popularity of watching these men compete, led way to weights being designed and manufactured specifically for lifting purposes. The modern sport of weight-lifting evolved from here, whereby specific events were created to measure strength and power.
Strongman Sandow
Weight-Lifting
As professional weight-lifters only needed strength and power, they had no need to develop physical stamina or endurance. Unlike the early day amateur strongmen that labored long hours, professional strongmen were able to focus solely on gaining power and strength. Eating massive meals to gain massive muscle strength, and with no cardiovascular training necessary, these men as a consequence gained massive fat bellies. But with the emergence of one man, the entire image of strongmen would change.
Sandow Mr. Olympia Statuette
Eugene Sandow rose through the ranks to become the greatest strongman in Europe. With no-one left to challenge him in Europe, he travelled to America where he before long became known as the world’s strongest man. Unlike any other strongman however, Sandow had an amazingly defined muscle symmetry and visible muscle density. Gaining the public’s attention, with greater interest on his physical aesthetics than on his strength, it paved the way for Sandow to become the first real bodybuilder and promoter of bodybuilding. Sandow published the first bodybuilding magazine (Physical Culture), and developed some of the first bodybuilding equipment. He furthermore put on the first bodybuilding show, billed “The Great Show” staged in 1891, and judged at the first bodybuilding competition ever held. In fact, he is such a legend of bodybuilding that his image remains immortalized on the Mr. Olympia statuette.
Bodybuilding – A New Era
At the dawn of competitive bodybuilding, the qualities Sandow looked for when judging were:
General muscle development
Symmetry of development
Condition and tone of muscle tissue
Condition of skin
General health
With the growing emphasis on muscle size and shape for aesthetics however, the emphasis soon shifted away from being about general health. The bodybuilding movement progressed to develop training techniques and training equipment that would allow maximum muscle bulk while losing maximum body-fat to show off muscle shape and definition. With thick core muscles offering significantly less definition, bulk and isolated blood flow to the surrounding muscles (such as the lats and chest), exercises were created to minimize core involvement, and maximize isolation during exercise.
Bodybuilding as Mainstream Fitness
The narrow waisted bodybuilding physique
With popularity gaining through the likes of bodybuilder/actors such as Lou Ferrigno (The Incredible Hulk), and Arnold Schwarzenegger (need I explicate), bodybuilding became mainstream fitness by the 1980s. Health Clubs were popping up everywhere, filled with equipment designed by bodybuilders for bodybuilding. Men that were heavily juiced up on steroids and that had all sorts of health issues were the icons of health and fitness, as were their training methods. It’s almost ironic that you would gain health issues from joining a health club, but this irony is more real and evident than you might imagine. As most gym equipment is not designed or intended to build strength, it leads to muscle imbalances with overdeveloped extremity muscle size and strength relative to vital core strength, which ultimately leads to injury one way or another. Remember, it is designed and intended to build a bodybuilding physique.
See my blog post Is the Gym Causing You Injury for more on this.
Strength Building
Strength throughout functional movements – such as driving the legs while riding a bicycle, jumping, running, punching, kicking or tackling requires core strength. The core muscles are what deliver power, endurance, stamina, or whatever the type of energy system is required at the peripheral muscles. This is why UFC fighter Frank Mir had to develop a new way of training. A way of training that involved strength building rather than bodybuilding. A way of training that would enable him to deliver the strength , endurance, stamina, agility power and accuracy to win.
Again, I’m not saying that bodybuilding is a worse way to train – just that it is a different way to train for a different purpose.
Whichever way you choose to go, happy training!
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