Quoting Gavin
While listening to SSLabcast #4: Overtraining and Muscle Mass, Gavin made a statement concerning bodybuilding that is so spot on.
"You look at bodybuilders and to me that is the absolute worst look you ever want to get if you're trying to be an athlete. An athlete needs muscle tone, needs muscle length so [he/she] can get eccentric to concentric stretch-speed. [He/she] needs body symmetry and muscle balance so that you can avoid injury especially under the duress of any kind of plyometric movements. They all require you to put your muscles on stretch and fire them quickly."
Now I've never been one to caricature individuals and/or demonize anybody's mojo. To each his own. It baffles me, however, that bodybuilding is called a "sport" and bodybuilder's are referred to as athletes when neither their training protocols nor competitions involve the requisite components constituting athleticism as generally understood and accepted. Coming from a bodybuilding background I know from experience, unfortunately, the effects of excessive adherence to a program centered around muscular hypertrophy. I've never suffered an injury due to bodybuilding except a minor rotator cuff strain, thank God, but my first experience with SSL training methods was incredibly humbling and a little disheartening. I realized that bigger is certainly not better and is detrimental to any sort of athletic endeavor. Whatever bodybuilding is, it is most certainly not an athletic sport. There is a hilarious scene in Pumping Iron where a group of grossly muscular bodybuilders are tossing around a football. Their movements are so blocky and unnatural. You see on film exactly what Gavin alludes to in the labcast. Their muscles are so bulky and tight that their range of motion is drastically limited to a staggering degree. Yet, coaches and athletes today still adopt bodybuilding-esque training methods at the expense of athletic potential.
Re: Quoting Gavin
T "You bring up some great points Jamaal! I don't want to sound mean, but I as a country we have a lot to learn about what defines a great athlete. It's not about the size, it is about speed. As a society we get that, computers are smaller and faster, Ipods keep getting smaller, but we haven't let ourselves get there when it comes to athletics. A tractor has more overall horsepower than an Indy car, but which one would rather race with? It's a silly question, but it goes with what you are saying. Thank you for your great comments!"
well, ya, but which one would be better suited for a huge storm?? I mean speed isn't the only thing that an athlete needs. I still say it's a balance of a lot of different things.
I've beaten many guys who were MUCH faster than me. I was just better skilled, and/or stronger than them.
Re: Quoting Gavin
Very, very well said Brad and I most certainly agree. I again think it is important to say unequivocally that SSL is not the "only" way to improve athletic potential. I combine an ever expanding variety of training protocols in an attempt to increase my own skill on the field, understand the human anatomy, keep it exciting, and basically to experiment. I in no way think it is necessary to condemn everything that is not SSL. However, I do acknowledge that many other training systems out there engage in just that sort of practice. The last thing I think SSL needs is to become like other forums where trainees do nothing but libel everything and everybody that is not like them. We get enough of that in our society. I agree that we should "fish where the fish are," but there is some added bonus to stealing other people's fish if they'll bite ;-). If they don't see the benefits of SSL or achieve any increases in their play, well throw'em back in the pond. As far as the widespread usage of "bodybuilding" training methods in serious athletic training programs, well from both my experience and observation there is a deeply entrenched bodybuilding motif underlying a number of different programs from High School all the way up to the pros. In fact I have a training manual that promises "explosive football" capabilities and one chapter is devoted to bodybuilding as a way of gaining muscle mass. Also, I know that Adrian Peterson at least endorses SPARQ training, which is great, but I also have an article in Muscle & Fitness that outlines at least one of the purple beast's workout and it is a combination of bodybuilding and power lifts. The same goes for Vernon Davis. They are both incredibly gifted and talented athletes who don't use SSL which begs the question, is SSL all that its made out to be or are athletes missing out on what it can provide? I think the answer is "yes" and "yes." Again I completely here where you're coming from. Their is something irritating and disquieting about ungracious, perpetual criticism. Criticism, however, is just a fact of life. There is a right way and wrong way to do it which I'm sure you'd agree with. When its all said and done, only results matter and they'll speak for themselves. Marketing is like politics, someone's gotta be made to look wrong.
Re: Quoting Gavin
they are obese imo.
but i still respect the discipline some bodybuilders have.
Re: Quoting Gavin
I can certainly respect the dedication SOME bodybuilders have. Bill Pearl is a figure par excellence when considering the admirable traits of that particular "sport." You are right in saying that elite athleticism is a combination or "balance" of many physiological components, but what Gavin pointed out in the labcast and what I elaborated on in the post is that bodybuilders are athletically imbalanced. They have severely over-hypertrophied muscles which causes unnatural "rolling" of their musculoskeletal system. Speed is most certainly the only thing an athlete needs when we are talking about sports which require an athlete to perform faster than his opponent in order to win. However, this may not necessarily or solely mean linear speed. The athlete needs speed, in its generic sense, in a wide variety of areas, including strength and power.
Re: Quoting Gavin
I think it's important to point out that bodybuilders in particular, are specialists. A bodybuilder does not generally aspire to general athletic prowess. He or she is literally shaping their body to conform to a set of standards imposed by a panel of judges. In a sense, they are supremely well-trained for their chosen pursuit. Now, is this a model a volleyball player, track and field athlete, tennis player, etc. should follow? Absolutely not. Perhaps it's just me but I am not seeing any serious athletic training programs following a bodybuilding protocol. This has been one of my issues with the constant drumbeat against "conventional" training methods. It's oversimplified as SSL vs. heavy old-school lifts. Not only are these methods less and less commonly used among serious athletes but I feel it actually limits the potential of SSL reaching a wider audience. If less time was spent trying to convert those power athletes who have extremely strong feelings about their power rack and more time trying to reach those athletes who have already realized that there is a better way but have not yet heard of SSL, I think there may be more converts. There are lots of people following JC Santana, Vern Gambetta, Mark Verstegen, SPARK, Monkey Bar Gym etc. that are likely open to trying something new. I guess what I'm saying is "fish where the fish are." Now I will readily admit that heavy weight training should go the way of the dodo, particularly in high school. I have long ago left school behind so I truly don't know to what extent old-school heavy weight training persists in these places. As a parent of a young female volleyball and basketball player you can be sure I have already introduced her to the slantboard, etc.. Might get interesting as she gets older and her coaches get more "serious".
Re: Quoting Gavin
I agree with you Jamaal. Criticism, eye poking and otherwise rattling the cage is critical to progress, changing minds and gaining converts. I just feel as though the comparisons are generally SSL vs. old-school heavy lifting. While it's clear from your observations that this is still prevalent, it's not the only "pond" out there. Rather than abandon the criticism, I feel it could be expanded. My experience colors my perceptions for sure. The athletic spheres I currently inhabit have embraced a wide variety of progressive training methods at least as it pertains to strength, flexibility, etc. Now the less-is-more miles, hours, etc. isn't widely embraced. Endurance athletes train themselves into the ground and consider pain to be a price of entry or a badge to be worn with pride.
PS- I've been in marketing for the last 15 years. :)
Re: Quoting Gavin
"PS...I've been in marketing for the last 15 years." So you know exactly what I'm talking about!
Re: Quoting Gavin
Yeah, I do but there is a way to win without simply tearing everybody else down. Not that I'm suggesting that's what SSL is doing entirely but it's a slippery slope and you don't need to go there if you have something great to sell.
Re: Quoting Gavin
well I'll put my 2 cent in this too since I'm a certified trained natural gifted athlete and some one who has used power lifting, SSL is realy all it's said to be no one is paying me to say this and I could give damn about marketing I just care about results and athletic ability, I was already a top notch athlete before I used SSL weight lifting does not equal athleticism it just physiologically doesn't freaks like adrian peterson and vernon davis are born not made by weights besides SSL nor I condone or like what power lifting and body building do to the bones joints and ligaments and quoting Gavin himself "whether people want to listen or not I don't give a damn I'm not the type to say I told you so or I'm right and your wrong no I just know what weight lifting does to the human body and it's not conducive to sports"
Re: Quoting Gavin
Joshua, I am not suggesting that SSL is not a superior method for developing great athletes. My point was that SSL is superior to methods other than just heavy old-school weight lifting but those comparisons are not generally being made. And while you may not give a damn about marketing, I'm pretty sure SSL does. They have made a significant investment in infrastructure to support a whole lot more members and traffic than they currently have. Additionally, people need to hear the SSL message so they can reach their full potential and avoid burnout and injury. That's the job of marketing and like it or not, you're a part of it. Gifted athletes succeeding in the respective sports and telling everyone they can about how they got there is marketing my friend. How many MMA guys found SSL through BJ Penn? That's the best kind of marketing there is. :)