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[MaximumZero]

Lifting weights is fun. Also stops me from becoming wider than I am tall.

I'm actually close to as wide as I am tall, but that's just my shoulders/chest.

Are... you a dwarf? :l

Pretty much.

[Caz]

Lifting weights is fun. Also stops me from becoming wider than I am tall.

I'm actually close to as wide as I am tall, but that's just my shoulders/chest.

Are... you a dwarf? :l

Pretty much.

Awesome.

[BFEL]

I saw a video of this arm-wrestling competition between a bodybuilder and a seemingly-normal looking but beefy dude. The bodybuilder was just that, but the other dude was into competitive arm-wrestling. And beat the much buffer-looking bodybuilder easily. It looked like he held firm until the bodybuilder got tired, then went in for the kill. Or maybe he was just playing with him. Was this a case of practice at the sport trumping general athleticism? Or is it possible to be a bodybuilder and have big muscles that aren't as strong as they could be if you trained differently?

The arm wrestling guy totally just looked like a somewhat burly plumber in the pub or something.

To answer your question, yes, it is perfectly possible to have big muscles that are less useful in certain situations.

In a general sense there are two types of muscle that you can build: Fast-twitch, and Slow-twitch.
Fast-Twitch is pure power over a short time, Slow-Twitch is endurance.

Of course exactly what kinds of things you're good at is dependent on different combinations of these two types in different muscle groups.
Aside from that, from my understanding most professional bodybuilders are all "show muscle"
Lifting doesn't fully translate into things like punching and arm wrestling, because it develops the wrong muscles in the wrong ways for that.

Similarly, a person who hits really hard isn't going to have the right muscle types to keep up with a marathon runner for example.

There are no "perfect" bodybuilding regimes, its all about what you want to use your body for.

[WealthyRadish]

I run a lot. Living here in Colorado near the mountains means there are tons of great places to run, even without driving anywhere (if I just want to go into the foothills).

I'm 6'3" and super skinny. Other potential skinny white dude activities I've considered include tennis, skiing, and fencing, but I rarely do anything but run. Just don't offend me with your rude wooden baubles.

[MaximumZero]

I run a lot. Living here in Colorado near the mountains means there are tons of great places to run, even without driving anywhere (if I just want to go into the foothills).

I'm 6'3" and super skinny. Other potential skinny white dude activities I've considered include tennis, skiing, and fencing, but I rarely do anything but run. Just don't offend me with your rude wooden baubles.

If you don't want my rude wooden baubles, you can take some magma. It's free at the trading post, but I'm afraid you'll have to collect it yourself.

[Caz]

To answer your question, yes, it is perfectly possible to have big muscles that are less useful in certain situations.

In a general sense there are two types of muscle that you can build: Fast-twitch, and Slow-twitch.
Fast-Twitch is pure power over a short time, Slow-Twitch is endurance.

Of course exactly what kinds of things you're good at is dependent on different combinations of these two types in different muscle groups.
Aside from that, from my understanding most professional bodybuilders are all "show muscle"
Lifting doesn't fully translate into things like punching and arm wrestling, because it develops the wrong muscles in the wrong ways for that.

Similarly, a person who hits really hard isn't going to have the right muscle types to keep up with a marathon runner for example.

There are no "perfect" bodybuilding regimes, its all about what you want to use your body for.

That myth is overstated imo. It's true those who look the most shredded (i.e for competitions) aren't as strong as they would be, basically because they have extremely low bodyfat and dehydrate themselves to look better. In the off-season they are still going to be stronger than 99% of folks. You can be fat and still have mad muscle hiding underneath, but most who go to the gym want to look nice too.

[MaximumZero]

There's a difference between endurance and strength training, though. I did a lot of strength training (high weight, low reps), and very little endurance training (low weight, high reps). Therefore, I'm very bulky, especially around the core, and don't have a lot of muscular definition or stamina. The two types of training do build two different types of muscle, as BFEL was saying.

To clarify my size, even though I've posted it all over B12, I'm 5'1"/215lbs. My ideal weight is probably between 165 and 180, even though it should be about 118 lbs, medically speaking.

[LeoLeonardoIII]

Man I heard BMI was a crock of shit (like a rumor that according to BMI Elijah Wood would be obese or something) but I just checked out my BMI: I'm 5'11" and 250# (about 1.8m and 113kg) and my BMI is about 35. Normal is supposed to be 19-25, obese is 30+, and 35 would be severely obese.

And let me tell you, I'm hardly obese ;P

For my height the chart wants me to be 150 pounds, which is kinda crazy. At this point, at a body fat percentage of 20% (which may be the case, it has been a few years since I was measured with an infrared device and my physical appearance is similar to what it was back then), I have 200# of nonfat body tissue, meaning even if I achieved an impossible 0% body fat I would still be within the "obese" category.

So why do we even use BMI anymore? It would be better to say "Sorry, we don't actually have a statistical tool for this. We used to, but then we realized that guy was a dumbass." I wonder why nobody has apparently stepped forward with any kind of better math for this.

[Korbac]

BMI works fine for people who have average builds and do light exercise regularly. If we get into muscle... it goes wrong.

To answer your question, yes, it is perfectly possible to have big muscles that are less useful in certain situations.
Lifting doesn't fully translate into things like punching and arm wrestling, because it develops the wrong muscles in the wrong ways for that.

Unfortunately, from personal experience, this seems to be much true. I mean, I'm stronger in terms of martial ability than I used to be, but not proportionally.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

All of my experience is in cardio. I went from 230 lbs to 180 lbs just from months of cardio (I am 6'0''.), but living in ice hell has resulted in me slipping back to 200 lbs over the course of the past few years. As expected, this routine means I have zero hypertrophy on my upper body, but on the bright side I don't have wimpy legs and can kick like an angry horse. I'm probably going to start strength training sooner rather than later, both because I'm tired of having weak arms and more muscle would be useful in preventing slipping back into being fat during the dead of winter.

[IronTomato]

At lot of Bay12ers seem to do martial arts.

Indeed, mah boi. I excel in Muay Thai, Judo, CQC and have a PhD in asskicking.
(This is the PTW of a bored man)

[Avis-Mergulus]

So, you guise are exercise guise, right? I've a question, if nobody minds.

So I want to enter a pilots' academy here in the Glorious, and for that, in addition to good test scores on math and physics, I have to do an exam of sorts on P.E.

For the best score, I need to run a kilometer in 3 min 14 sec, a hundred meters in something like 12,5 sec, and do an indefinite, but preferably higher than fifteen, number of pull-ups.

What would be the best way to prepare, in your opinion? I already have the kilometer thing down pat (well, almost), but the 100-meter run is giving me trouble, and due to limited living space, I have nowhere to install a bar to do pull-ups on.

[GiglameshDespair]

Would pushups exercise the right muscle groups for the pull ups?

Never was a good one at running, myself, so I can't help you there. MAybe squats to exercise  the quick-reaction muscles?

[LeoLeonardoIII]

I'd suggest keeping up with a varied exercise routine but put extra emphasis on those three activities: endurance run, sprint, and pull-up. You get better at doing something by doing it, after all. Does anyone know of exercises that improve your pull-ups that are not pull-ups but are better in some way than just doing more pull-ups?

Another issue is height and weight for pilots: are you sure you fit into the specifications? There are very strict tolerances.

[Avis-Mergulus]

I'd suggest keeping up with a varied exercise routine but put extra emphasis on those three activities: endurance run, sprint, and pull-up. You get better at doing something by doing it, after all. Does anyone know of exercises that improve your pull-ups that are not pull-ups but are better in some way than just doing more pull-ups?

Another issue is height and weight for pilots: are you sure you fit into the specifications? There are very strict tolerances.

Those two specifically - yes. However, I still have to take what is called the Flight Medical Expert Commission - it's a battery of medical tests which determine if you're fit for it. I have had no serious or chronic health problems in my life, so I should be okay.