How does big arms/chest + beergut/fat legs equal being in-shape?

[Austin]

I absolutely do not understand this phenomenon at all. The more I go to the gym the more evident it is to me. How does having only big arms/chest plus pure-fat where abs should be with both legs being caked in fat, how does that somehow qualify as being in shape in these peoples minds?

Every time I go to the gym I have to wait for these types to finish doing the only thing they do, arm and chest exercises..... They grunt with displeasure whenever someone who is actually in shape works out in their claimed areas. It's sick to hear them grunt and hear the sweat-oozing fat smack down on the bench leather. Here are two examples of what I'm talking about. I see these types at gyms and they are completely out of shape. I don't think they have done an ab workout or leg workout in their life..... Have they not been shown the wonders of swiss/cardio balls?

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[Eldritch]

I hear what you're saying. Being really healthy and fit is something else altogether.

Throw those guys in an Olympic pool and have them do 30 laps back and forth for a real workout.

[Curtis24]

Some guys just want to be strong, and be able to protect themselves, and others. Nothing wrong with that.

Cardio fitness also doesn't always equal looking good. Ever seen a marathon run? Lots of those people are pretty hefty. If you want to be in shape, exercise. If you want to lose weight, eat less.

[Austin]

Some guys just want to be strong, and be able to protect themselves, and others. Nothing wrong with that.

Cardio fitness also doesn't always equal looking good. Ever seen a marathon run? Lots of those people are pretty hefty. If you want to be in shape, exercise. If you want to lose weight, eat less.


I'll take a cardio, swiss ball worked body over the above bodies any day......

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[Peasant]

You can't get really big without putting on fat etc as far as I know, you have to cut every so often to get the body fat percentage down?

[Austin]

You can't get really big without putting on fat etc as far as I know, you have to cut every so often to get the body fat percentage down?


Ehhhh yeahhhhhhh I was told that also in middle/high school by my gym teachers. Then when I went to university my kinesiology professors who were all new-age and had done research on it and all told me that all that is crap and that cardio is everything. They said you should never put on fat really if you are achieving balance which apparently most aren't.

These guys were decked like the guy above with balanced proportions unlike the guys in the first videos so I trusted what they said.

[Groenewolf]

They somehow stay capable of lifting beer barrels to their mouth ;) .

[Liffrea]

Combining different exercise routines is important to stay in shape, interested and keep your body guessing.

I usually do three weeks of weight based exercises then two weeks of HITS using light weights and the “royal court” Hindu squats, Hindu press ups, bridging (google them if you don’t know).

You want to burn fat and build good lower body strength, Hindu squats.

[Bloodeagle]

I think the answer lies in a persons body type: ectomorph, mesomorph, endomorph. Each type with its different metabolisms, muscle type constituents- fast twitch and slow twitch and testosterone levels.
What is good for one type is not generally good for another. ;)
http://www.formerfatguy.com/sunrider-foods/blog/body-type-chart-ectomorph.gif

Those really strong and chubby guys at the gym, probably fall under the endomorph category, as do most of the strongest men in the world. They are designed to do the heavy stuff that the others could only wish to accomplish. When this type is placed in today's leisure, they get really fat.
On the other end of the spectrum, you have the ectomorph, who is designed for the sort of activities that would make an endomorph faint, but they must struggle to gain strength and muscle mass.
In the middle there is the mesomorph who is balanced between the 2 physical types but does not usually excel at either.

So, I would guess from your comments, that you are an ectomorph or mesomorph.
I can imagine that the endomorphs at your gym hover or dominate those areas around the bench press and squat rack, intimidating every ectomorph who even wishes to join in. These guys are probably thinking to themselves that you should go and run a few laps or do some situps. :D
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[Imperivm]

Welcome to the gym culture it's full of idiots who do everything wrong and unfortunatly REALLY pisses some people off. You get the typical fat guys covered in tattoos who only work upper body, the skinny guys that do endless bicep curls with two 10kg dumbbells with terrible form (swaying their back). There’s also the 18-22 steroid taking douchebags who wear the revealing tank tops with trendy sexual slogans AND the retard chav lads who come in groups of four and do nothing but talk and laugh really loudly while not working out. Last but not least there’s the middle aged man that thinks he’s getting a solid work out by using the ‘resistance machines’, but in reality he’s doing absolutely nothing but paying money to waste his time.

http://www.homemadefitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/douchebags2.jpg

Personally this doesn’t really annoy me that much. I go to the gym for my own goals and personal pleasure and don’t tend to care about what other people are doing wrong. The gym is a public place after all. It is ONLY when you get cunts that have poor gym etiquette and infringe on your work out that should really affect you, this almost never happens to me. I.e. being a cunt by leaving sweat on a bench or asking to use equipment half way through a set.

Remember we are special people ;), I expect most of us are appalled by other humans on a daily basis. Just don’t let the herd spoil the gym for you.

[Austin]

I think the answer lies in a persons body type: ectomorph, mesomorph, endomorph. Each type with its different metabolisms, muscle type constituents- fast twitch and slow twitch and testosterone levels.
What is good for one type is not generally good for another. ;)
http://www.formerfatguy.com/sunrider-foods/blog/body-type-chart-ectomorph.gif

Those really strong and chubby guys at the gym, probably fall under the endomorph category, as do most of the strongest men in the world. They are designed to do the heavy stuff that the others could only wish to accomplish. When this type is placed in today's leisure, they get really fat.
On the other end of the spectrum, you have the ectomorph, who is designed for the sort of activities that would make an endomorph faint, but they must struggle to gain strength and muscle mass.
In the middle there is the mesomorph who is balanced between the 2 physical types but does not usually excel at either.

So, I would guess from your comments, that you are an ectomorph or mesomorph.
I can imagine that the endomorphs at your gym hover or dominate those areas around the bench press and squat rack, intimidating every ectomorph who even wishes to join in. These guys are probably thinking to themselves that you should go and run a few laps or do some situps. :D
GXnbBhy1yKo

I understand. It is true that there are different builds of people for sure. I'm referring to people who are visibly-fat yet because they have big arms/chest they profess to being in shape. There is such things as big buff guys who aren't visibly fat. Cardio balls still deliver for such builds just with more effort. I'm just annoyed by those who refute being out of shape because their stomach has a layer of visible fat on it when it doesn't have to be there.


I have a six pack and everything else is nicely toned with strong leg/calf muscles at 155 pounds and 6ft tall. Yet it is hard for me to build big arms without going hardcore as my body structure is sleek and proportioned like a Legolas more than an Aragorn. Due to this if I want what comes easy for a large guy I have to work 3x harder to achieve the mass thanks to my body type which doesn't put on upper-body mass as easily as a big guys body would. Imagine an archer doing bench press, even if he does more than the big guy, the effects are still a lot less due to his body build, same in reverse with a big guy and abs.

Yet because of my Legolas/gazelle build I can achieve and maintain a defined six pack with minimal effort as well as toned legs and everything else with much less lifting/dedication while still eating fast food every other meal. Built like a rabbit= gets to eat like a rabbit.

[Eldritch]

Some guys just want to be strong, and be able to protect themselves, and others. Nothing wrong with that.

Nothing wrong with that at all. But afaIk martial artists, boxers etc. don't really train a lot with weights either. Besides punching and kicking the bag, they do a lot of cardio also and throw medicine balls at walls. :p

But hey, anyone can train in whatever way they want, and for any purpose. I won't get in someone else's face about it, as long as they do me the same courtesy. :)

[Psychonaut]

BloodEagle is on the right track. Take a look at the World's Strongest Man (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World%27s_Strongest_Man) competitions some time. These guys almost always come in looking a little pudgy but are, as the contest implies :D, the strongest men around. Mariusz (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mariusz_Pudzianowski) is the exception and usually competes with low bodyfat, but the current champ, Žydrūnas Savickas (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C5%BDydr%C5%ABnas_Savickas) is rocking a serious gut:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ea/Zydrunas_Savickas_lifting_weight.jpg


Nothing wrong with that at all. But afaIk martial artists, boxers etc. don't really train a lot with weights either. Besides punching and kicking the bag, they do a lot of cardio also and throw medicine balls at walls. :p

That runs counter to my experience with MMA. All of the guys I trained with lifted weights religiously (usually explosive compound lifts). Martial arts techniques may not rely entirely on the kind of strength that lifting gives you, but if me and my opponent are equally skilled in technique, but I've got twenty pounds of muscle on him, he's gonna die.

[Austin]

BloodEagle is on the right track. Take a look at the World's Strongest Man (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World%27s_Strongest_Man) competitions some time. These guys almost always come in looking a little pudgy but are, as the contest implies :D, the strongest men around. Mariusz (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mariusz_Pudzianowski) is the exception and usually competes with low bodyfat, but the current champ, Žydrūnas Savickas (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C5%BDydr%C5%ABnas_Savickas) is rocking a serious gut:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ea/Zydrunas_Savickas_lifting_weight.jpg



That runs counter to my experience with MMA. All of the guys I trained with lifted weights religiously (usually explosive compound lifts). Martial arts techniques may not rely entirely on the kind of strength that lifting gives you, but if me and my opponent are equally skilled in technique, but I've got twenty pounds of muscle on him, he's gonna die.


Yeah but something tells me that this guy is far from what the average person or even average buff-person wishes to emulate when they work out. I don't think most people would consider that guy in shape or even close to it. He would be considered fat. Maybe not in his superficial lifting world, but in the real world by what most people desire from a workout, fat big-guy would be the conclusion on average. I'm not attacking him or his lifting world and it's goals, so much as saying when the average person thinks of their ideal body in their twenties, I'd bet a lot that guys physique is about dead-last on their ideal list.

[Psychonaut]

Yeah but something tells me that this guy is far from what the average person or even average buff-person wishes to emulate when they work out.

Well, lettuce be reality...

Most tards people, when judging fitness, only look at abs. If a guy has abs, he's fit; that's it. But there's really no single metric to judge fitness. Some guys train for strength, some for speed, some for endurance, some for explosive power, some for a middle ground between these, etc. Personally, I prefer the middle path (with a slight emphasis on strength), but I've got loads of respect for the guys that go for the extremes of any one dimension of fitness.

[Ushtari]

I see these types at gyms and they are completely out of shape. I don't think they have done an ab workout or leg workout in their life..... Have they not been shown the wonders of swiss/cardio balls?

What if their goal is not to get in shape but to get stronger?
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This guy is no where near your "being in shape ideal", but he sure as hell is stronger then any1 in your gym.:)

[Austin]

Well okay you two but acknowledge reality at least........ Does the average person signing a gym membership or hiring a personal trainer do it to look like those guys or do it to try for a six pack/big arms/chest with as little visible fat as possible?

Who cares about 'strength training' on average? Nobody. If gym memberships were based on people looking to become pure-strength machines then every gym in the world would collapse financially overnight. If I was told I'm going to look like those guys at the end of working out I'd never workout another day in my life as I don't think that guy would get many girls numbers at the end of the night. (the real reason for working out for the average person)

[Ushtari]

You are right, that was actually the reason i started to train. Until i realized that being strong is funnier. However, i think many people who train to become Arnold, also like to get stronger, and in order to do so you need to train hard. For example, i used to train 3 times a week, day1 squat, day2 benchpress and day3 deadlift. The thing is, when i trained benchpress for example, i only did benchpress during the whole pass, and the same thing with squat and deadlift.

[Psychonaut]

Well okay you two but acknowledge reality at least........ Does the average person signing a gym membership or hiring a personal trainer do it to look like those guys or do it to try for a six pack/big arms/chest with as little visible fat as possible?

Yeah...but that's just because your average gym-goer is a superficial douche who doesn't really care about their body at all; they only care about the perception of their body by their peers. That's why all the guidos around here only work biceps and chest; they're the "look at me" muscles.

[Austin]

You are right, that was actually the reason i started to train. Until i realized that being strong is funnier. However, i think many people who train to become Arnold, also like to get stronger, and in order to do so you need to train hard. For example, i used to train 3 times a week, day1 squat, day2 benchpress and day3 deadlift. The thing is, when i trained benchpress for example, i only did benchpress during the whole pass, and the same thing with squat and deadlift.


What I don't understand is why guys who are already 'buff' in the upper body don't then balance the rest of themselves rather than continue on adding mass? I mean if I was given the choice of super-upper body buff or buff with six pack and no fat then I'd go with six pack and no fat every time yet it seems there is a mental decision to forgo the lower body entirely in favor of the upper body. Half of these guys lower bodies are......... I can't not say the obvious...... fat and or out of shape......... and the rest of their bodies are out of proportion and simply grotesque having defeated the primal goal of achieving muscle mass to attract females by literally having gone overboard.

[Psychonaut]

What I don't understand is why guys who are already 'buff' in the upper body don't then balance the rest of themselves rather than continue on adding mass?

Most guys are pussies. :D

Squats and deadlifts done heavy enough to put mass on your legs and back will probably make you throw up every once and a while. Most dudes are just not willing to do this.

[Austin]

Yeah...but that's just because your average gym-goer is a superficial douche who doesn't really care about their body at all; they only care about the perception of their body by their peers. That's why all the guidos around here only work biceps and chest; they're the "look at me" muscles.


Okay but most people are superficial. I don't even need a study anyone can tell this, 98% of people who workout do it to get that girls number at the club or to make guys want to ask for their number at the club. It has nothing to do with notions of strength or lifting. If they could press a button and get the results they would and wouldn't ever enter a gym again. I hate working out but I do it and after witnessing the opposites sex comments on the results after my shirt is off (wow a six pack does wonders) am glad I do but that is the only reason I do it. Once I get married I will never go to the gym rather just maintain what I have. I do it 100% to attain a female, not because it is good for me. In that sense I don't care if I can't lift a 5 pound weight, if it gets me mass/toned in the areas I want then I could care less what my strength level is, if there at all.

[Murphy]

Could be worse. They could be me.

[Psychonaut]

Could be worse. They could be me.

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_VSrnkiWaqSQ/TMdBQsCZScI/AAAAAAAAAZI/r7M0LAXkxW0/s1600/forever+alone+face.png

[Grumpy Cat]

Sometimes fat people can be fitter than skinny people. Depends on their body composition.

Skinny people who don't exercise and eat lots of junk, for example, store all their fat around vital organs rather than on their bodies, and that is actually worse.

I mean, I have a lean build, and can get cut with minimal effort, but I am nowhere near the shape I was in when I was a competative swimmer or played varsity basketball. I messed up my ankle and there went my fitness. I still work out, but not at the level I used to (swimming, I was training at an Olympic calibre, working with trainers, nutritionists, and everything).

One way I'm lucky, though, is that when I gain fat, it goes to my thighs, butt, and arms, never around my abdomen, which makes weight loss easier for me than most women, the fat is nowhere near my vital organs which means I'm low risk for heart disease/stroke, and well... I carry it better, so people barely notice if I put on a few pounds.

I'm thinking I might try out Yoga, though. The problem with me is when I lift weights or do anything like that, I bulk up like a guy, even if I do low weight lots of reps, or resistance training like they recommend for women. I don't know, must be those crazy Nordic genes, I'm built like a Viking lady. But it's hard to attract a man when you look like you could kick his ass. :(

Thing is I have no choice but to work out because both of my parents were diabetic and I'm not (but I'm obviously highly genetically predisposed), and I want to keep it that way ... poking myself with needles is not my idea of a good time.

And my parents weren't overweight (nor are any of my other diabetic relatives), either, so I'm probably more genetically predisposed to it than most since in my family it doesn't seem to be brought on by obesity.

[Liffrea]

Home gym is the solution.

Downside, unless you have the space and money you will never have the same facilities.

Plus side you can work out your own routine and time, a good third of time in a gym is sitting down waiting for someone to finish. I also find you’re less inclined to miss sessions; I walk all of ten feet to my “gym”, cuts out the hassle of packing your bags, travelling to the gym etc.

Now all I need is a swimming pool. Went swimming a few weeks back, full of kids and people buggering about, should have a special pool for them.

[Ushtari]

What I don't understand is why guys who are already 'buff' in the upper body don't then balance the rest of themselves rather than continue on adding mass? I mean if I was given the choice of super-upper body buff or buff with six pack and no fat then I'd go with six pack and no fat every time yet it seems there is a mental decision to forgo the lower body entirely in favor of the upper body. Half of these guys lower bodies are......... I can't not say the obvious...... fat and or out of shape......... and the rest of their bodies are out of proportion and simply grotesque having defeated the primal goal of achieving muscle mass to attract females by literally having gone overboard.
Well the answer is simple, they think their lowerbody is in shape, when it in fact is not(compared to a trained upperbody). But i think the biggest reason is because its simply boring and a pain in the ass to train lowerbody(unless you do squats ofc wich is very entertaining:D).


Okay but most people are superficial. I don't even need a study anyone can tell this, 98% of people who workout do it to get that girls number at the club or to make guys want to ask for their number at the club. It has nothing to do with notions of strength or lifting.
Well i dont know how the view of training is in America, but over here, youths gladly brag about how strong they are.