From: krw@cbnewsk.cb.att.com (keith.r.smith)
Newsgroups: misc.fitness
Subject: Re: The fittest people on the planet.
Keywords: balance in life
Date: 27 Jan 93 19:54:49 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: AT&T

In article <1k6dfuINNi49@mojo.eng.umd.edu> georgec@eng.umd.edu (George B. Clark) writes:
>In article <C1Hnyw.5zy@csn.org> pae@teal.csn.org (Phil Earnhardt) writes:
>>In article <1jm16oINNoik@bnsgd245.bnr.co.uk> laurie@bnr.co.uk (Laurie Constantin) writes:
>>
>>>It's very sad that bodybuilding and powerlifting can be at both extremes of
>>>the health scale - on the one hand, recreational body builders and
>>>powerlifters (and natural competitors in those sports) are probably a group
>>>of the healthiest, fittest people on the planet.
>
>"Healthiest, fittest people on the planet" is hardly describes a
>bodybuilder. To become a world-class bodybuilder, a person must make
>great compromises in their health. 

Please respond to what the man wrote! He was describing recreational/natural
bodybuilders and powerlifters. He did not even imply that such folx are the
_only_ group of exceptionally healthy/fit persons, but _a_ group that is among
the healthiest/fittest on the planet. I say that his comments still stand.
He was _not_ talking about world-class bodybuilders!
(we all know that they do some crazy/dangerous stuff to take their physiques
to that level)

>These people eat an unnatural diet.

This is an unsupportable "blanket" statement! It may or may not be true
for a given individual. Who is to say that a recreational/fitness bodybuilder
is gonna have a diet any stranger than that of a boxer or a gymnast?

>They take drugs. 

May I remind you that Laurie was talking about _natural_ powerlifters and
bodybuilders.

>Once every two weeks, they must lift extremely
>heavy weights to achieve maximum strength, and these routines are
>dangerous, especially if they are not supervised by a sports-medicine
>physician.

Assuming for sake of discussion, that this is true, are you saying that
once a person has trained long enough, and consistently enough, and has
been injury-free long enough to develop the strength required to work
with the big weights (assuming, for now, that that is indeed what he is
doing), then that that person could get to that point w/o _becoming_
exceptionally fit/healthy? Remember that we are talking about _natural_
trainees here.
>
>In addition, world-class bodybuilders have weak hearts relative to their
>body sizes because the intensity of their strength training leaves them no
>energy for aerobic training.

Johnny Fuller, a world-class bodybuilder who was competing in the 70's
and 80's, was also running _marathons_ during that time. He was also an
avowed "30-rep-man", meaning that he did all/most of his exercises in
sets of 30 reps. Try doing 30-rep-sets of squats with any respectable
weight, and see if it doesn't leave your chest heaving. I remember reading
that Serge Nubret was doing 20 sets of 20 in the bench press with 225 lbs.
He weighed in at somewhere about 200 at that time, at a height of about
5'9". If you can do 20x20 with a given weight, with little rest between
sets, you can best believe the the weight is nowhere near your max, and
further, that you are training more for work output, than pure strength.
One is most likely to risk injury by trying to go too heavy w/o proper
warmup and/or proper form.......
But I digress, as Laurie was _not_ talking about world-class bodybuilders.
>
>By the way, "fitness or being fit" by definition refers only to the heart,
>and since bodybuilders are focused on their skeletal muscles, fitness is 
>inappropriate terminology.

This is pure bunk! There are more ways than one to measure fitness.
A true bodybuilding regimen will include some parts muscle-building,
some parts fat-burning (ie., aerobics), and some parts attention to
diet, and allowing proper time for recovery. We are talking about
all-around body conditioning here.

Let me close by saying that once you get in a coupla' years of hard,
consistent, natural training in most any athletic endeavor, ie., once
you are well beyond the "novice" stage, it is safe to say that you
are more-than-a-little healthy and fit.
>
>On the other hand, bodybuilders are highly motivated people, and they
>deserve admiration for having achieved a very difficult goal.

Keith R
Newsgroups: misc.fitness