Sports compared to professional bodybuilding.....

[sean061788]

I hate to break it to you guys, but I think you guys have all fallen victim to advertising.

I'm not saying pro body builders don't work hard... Obviously they do... But take a look at some of the other sports like hockey for example, these guys will play 6 games in different cities in 7 days. Get a break to play a few at home and then back out to do it again. Putting their bodies on the line everynight, and playing their hearts out.


Lets take Phil Heath just for the hell of it anybody have his travel schedule for the past year? I guarantee it doesnt even come close to some other athletes schedules. Im sure he traveled quite a bit? and what did he do there? get up on stage and do a 5 min. posing routine? answer some questions and some some stuff. Im sure the travel schedule is quite hectic and exhausting but nothing in comparison. A lot of these guys have the same strength and conditioning coaches MMA athletes use.

Training... how you guys know what other pro athletes training schedules look like is beyond me, but if you think pro bodybuilders are the only ones training hard you need your head examined, football players train just as hard if not harder then bodybuilders and then have to go out and play games on top of that.

This is no disrespect to a pro bodybuilder but even if you go watch the lifestyle parts of pro's dvd's... are their days really that gruelling?

Some of you guys need to stop watching so many Zhasni vids and get back to reality

[RADRYAN]

bodybuilding doesn't technically seem like a 'sport' but it's definitely a life style. I was apart of sports growing up, and never had anything more challenging than competing. Once you get into the severe depletion I would venture to say there is nothing more challenging. You don't have a coach pushing you through 45 minute stair stepper sessions, don't have a teammate there to back you up. It's solely on you, your success is based on you. If you give in, I can guarantee one of your competitors won't.

I love bodybuilding, it's you vs. you for the whole prep. What other sport pits you against your mind, and your body?

[umustsacrifice]

I really do not think any sport compares with the 24 hour, 7 days a week, 365 days a year bodybuilding lifstyle. None.

[soleution]

Body building is a physically demanding sport no doubt. I am preping for my first contest as we speak. However, as a former high level athlete and kinesiology b.s.. I think is crazy to say its the most demanding sport.

Marathoners, train all year long, keep their weight down all year, run 20 milers on a regular basis. Has anyone here ran 20 miles? Its one of the hardest things you will ever do. They battle just as hard as bber's but for a different goal.

Westlers are a prime example. My brother is making a run at state this year for wrestling and i have aided in his training and dieting. He walks around at 145ish and diets to 132 every week. He is, according to a caliper test, 5% BF at 145. He lifts 3 days a week. practices 3 hours 6 days a week. Hes constantly monitoring his diet, sodium, and water intake. Plus he has a new black eye or busted lip almost every week, something bodybuilding has never given me. He puts in way more time then i do as a bber.

How is a max of 4-6 lifting sessions that shouldn't last more than 90mins plus a few cardio sessions harder than, what my brother is doing. His dieting is so much more demanding then mine during the off season. During my contest prep our diet effort is similar, but my activity level is no were near his.

Dont get me wrong bodybuilding requires a lifestyle change but so does being a REAL athlete. I have trained a pro athlete (football) before and he busted more ass then anyone i had ever really seen.

Also if you say other sports dont require genetics, think about what your saying, it doesnt make sense. Basketball players, O lineman, Running backs who run a 4.1 40. Most people will never be able to do these things at a pro level because their genetics wont allow it.

[jaredlap]

Anytime you reach an elite level in a sport, the training is extreme and difficult, with the exceptions of non-physical sports like golf, bowling, and sports that are essentially childrens games, like baseball, soccer and basketball (no disrespect intended).

Bodybuilding is unique in that the difficulty or intensity of a workout is whatever the athlete chooses it to be. It is also different in that it requires excessive training under caloric deficits, and extreme discipline that must be maintained outside of the weight room.

The only sports that come to mind for me are mma and wrestling; they both require a lifestyle and discipline similar to bodybuilding, and may be even harder physically, albeit in different ways. Getting punched, slammed, and choked in cage is a different kind of suffering than say, forcing yourself to squat heavy ass weights until you puke, while you are weakened from a diet 99.9% of the population couldn't follow --- They are both torture! Just different!

[Groggery]

I really do not think any sport compares with the 24 hour, 7 days a week, 365 days a year bodybuilding lifstyle. None.

Because other sports apparently stop at only 364 days a year...for an older guy your brain ain't there.

[TTimmerman]

all i'll add to this discussion:

YES top athlete of EVERY sport live for it. although i see pro soccer players for example partying every week in magazines, coked up banging some whores.

but the difference with bodybuilding is that it starts at an extremely low level. i know people (including myself) who ****ing breathe it, everything is perfect. i don't see ANYONE of any other sport (yes even MMA/grappling/soccer athletes at decent level) going through the same form of dedication on a daily basis.

[Freddiestrong]

It is not a big sport but elite competitive cross country skiing is probably the hardest and toughest sports out there. They train year around with restricted diet. In every measurement the elite XC skiers has the top result when measuring Vo2 max and cardiac output in the world. To maintain this they cannot allow themselves to drink alcohol and stuff. And they also train and compete when its pretty damn cold outside

[sean061788]

all i'll add to this discussion:

YES top athlete of EVERY sport live for it. although i see pro soccer players for example partying every week in magazines, coked up banging some whores.

but the difference with bodybuilding is that it starts at an extremely low level. i know people (including myself) who ****ing breathe it, everything is perfect. i don't see ANYONE of any other sport (yes even MMA/grappling/soccer athletes at decent level) going through the same form of dedication on a daily basis.

I have to disagree, i know a guy who is a pro mixed martial artist and these guys move away from their families for 3 to 4 months for their camps and live and breathe their next fight the whole time.

A bodybuilders prep

cardio eat eat eat train eat eat cardio eat rest repeat.

his camp

cardio, jujitsu, wrestling, boxing, sparring, weights, wrestling, cardio, rest, then cut around 15 lbs in a few days to weigh in, and go fight the next day or the day after, and that doesnt include hours of watching film and mental preperation,

their training is all day.


the two are actually quite similar because when it is competiton/fight time the smallest miscalculation can be the difference between a win or a loss

there is always going to be exceptions but alot of these mma guys start off as bodybuilders and they will tell you there isnt even a comparison to the amount of dedication their fight camp takes to a bb prep

[xXxUNDEROATHxXx]

Football anyone?????

Have to put all the work in the gym and kitchen. Then you get to go collide with very large fast men. Hurts....

[featureless]

all i'll add to this discussion:

YES top athlete of EVERY sport live for it. although i see pro soccer players for example partying every week in magazines, coked up banging some whores.

but the difference with bodybuilding is that it starts at an extremely low level. i know people (including myself) who ****ing breathe it, everything is perfect. i don't see ANYONE of any other sport (yes even MMA/grappling/soccer athletes at decent level) going through the same form of dedication on a daily basis.

Testament to this is that a lot of serious bodybuilders are usually single or dating a bodybuilder. Its near impossible to find someone else that completely understands the sacrifice of this sport.

[TTimmerman]

I have to disagree, i know a guy who is a pro mixed martial artist and these guys move away from their families for 3 to 4 months for their camps and live and breathe their next fight the whole time.

you missed the point of my post didn't you...

[f0rcedr4ps]

Obviously pro bodybuilders are hitting the gym consistenly and paying enormous attention to the diet, but most pros just play it safe in the gym (why shouldn't they) and do some light cardio. It isn't really that hard compared to other sports with matches on a weekly basis where you have to be at your best and give all that you can.

[vigneshwaran.r]

agreed excellent comment.

I hate to break it to you guys, but I think you guys have all fallen victim to advertising.

I'm not saying pro body builders don't work hard... Obviously they do... But take a look at some of the other sports like hockey for example, these guys will play 6 games in different cities in 7 days. Get a break to play a few at home and then back out to do it again. Putting their bodies on the line everynight, and playing their hearts out.


Lets take Phil Heath just for the hell of it anybody have his travel schedule for the past year? I guarantee it doesnt even come close to some other athletes schedules. Im sure he traveled quite a bit? and what did he do there? get up on stage and do a 5 min. posing routine? answer some questions and some some stuff. Im sure the travel schedule is quite hectic and exhausting but nothing in comparison. A lot of these guys have the same strength and conditioning coaches MMA athletes use.

Training... how you guys know what other pro athletes training schedules look like is beyond me, but if you think pro bodybuilders are the only ones training hard you need your head examined, football players train just as hard if not harder then bodybuilders and then have to go out and play games on top of that.

This is no disrespect to a pro bodybuilder but even if you go watch the lifestyle parts of pro's dvd's... are their days really that gruelling?

Some of you guys need to stop watching so many Zhasni vids and get back to reality

[wolfpilp]

First off all we gotta know if the thread is "PRO bodybuilding vs other PRO sports" or "Bodybuilding sport vs other sports".
These are two different things.About Pro athletes,bodybuilding really does put you in that place that you are all alone and some times its an agony just to wake from the bed when in low carbs/energy..So the hardest part about bodybybuilding(apart form zahnsi videos..) is that a big part of it ts Purely JUST you.Not always someone to push you on your side.
..but..
Other pro sports can also be that or even more demanding in general.Sports like mma is an example.Cardio,weights,right nutrition e.t.c all day long is really hard and i personally think more demanding than controlling your thoughts all day just for a weight and a cardio session.

What i am trying to say is that... in pro sports bodybuilding is hard,but not the hardest.


Now....if you talking about The sport in general,if you are a guy who is bodybuilding(not just calling yourself a bodybuilder for the lols)...I think its safe to say its the hardest i know off.Maybe i miss something but i cant think of anything more demanding.
coz bodybuilding you DO or DONT.There are not easy ways or just 50% doing because then its not bodybuilding.Its weight trainning or anything else you may wanna call it..

[littlearm]

Bodybuilders go through some tough dieting before a contest, but if you're a gymnast or an endurance athlete you never get to enjoy a bulking phase. They are truly dieting 365 days a year.

[spicymelon]

Every ****ing sport on the elite level is hard work. Bodybuilding, basketball, disk throwing, you name it.

[jaredlap]

I hate to break it to you guys, but I think you guys have all fallen victim to advertising.

I'm not saying pro body builders don't work hard... Obviously they do... But take a look at some of the other sports like hockey for example, these guys will play 6 games in different cities in 7 days. Get a break to play a few at home and then back out to do it again. Putting their bodies on the line everynight, and playing their hearts out.


Lets take Phil Heath just for the hell of it anybody have his travel schedule for the past year? I guarantee it doesnt even come close to some other athletes schedules. Im sure he traveled quite a bit? and what did he do there? get up on stage and do a 5 min. posing routine? answer some questions and some some stuff. Im sure the travel schedule is quite hectic and exhausting but nothing in comparison. A lot of these guys have the same strength and conditioning coaches MMA athletes use.

Training... how you guys know what other pro athletes training schedules look like is beyond me, but if you think pro bodybuilders are the only ones training hard you need your head examined, football players train just as hard if not harder then bodybuilders and then have to go out and play games on top of that.

This is no disrespect to a pro bodybuilder but even if you go watch the lifestyle parts of pro's dvd's... are their days really that gruelling?

Some of you guys need to stop watching so many Zhasni vids and get back to reality

Excellent post and i agree completely.

[littlearm]

I love bodybuilding, it's you vs. you for the whole prep. What other sport pits you against your mind, and your body?

Most of them?

[Ovillaz]

4 anybody that watched the australian open tennis recently.....that would b fuqin insanly hard...sprinting,jumping,sliding moving in all directions while flogging a ball for hours on end and then do it the next day


its a different kind of "hard" to bodybuilding

same with pro basketball.......playing hard as fuq, then traveling over the othr side of the states to do it again the next night...

[the-craig]

most fans of bodybuilding will say it's the toughest sport out there. I think that most physical sports take that much dedication to be the best of the best (top 5 in the world). most sports as in...90% of sports excluding sports such as archery and cricket

You don't think it takes that much dedication to be the best bowler or batsman in the world? Come on you, can you image the hours of practice every day it takes until you're able to consistently make a ball change direction or pace like this?

[JanesLastResort]

What other sport pits you against your mind, and your body?

I agree with most of what you said, but don't be ignorant.

[keeko]

all i'll add to this discussion:

YES top athlete of EVERY sport live for it. although i see pro soccer players for example partying every week in magazines, coked up banging some whores.

but the difference with bodybuilding is that it starts at an extremely low level. i know people (including myself) who ****ing breathe it, everything is perfect. i don't see ANYONE of any other sport (yes even MMA/grappling/soccer athletes at decent level) going through the same form of dedication on a daily basis.

inb4cormier

[umustsacrifice]

Because other sports apparently stop at only 364 days a year...for an older guy your brain ain't there.

your good at throwing insults. why dont you just read it and move on. its my opinion. and its valid

[bartosh]

You don't think it takes that much dedication to be the best bowler or batsman in the world? Come on you, can you image the hours of practice every day it takes until you're able to consistently make a ball change direction or pace like this?

i stand corrected. repped

[Groggery]

and its valid

Pretty sure the majority in this thread just showed you it's not.

[oxs22]

You don't think it takes that much dedication to be the best bowler or batsman in the world? Come on you, can you image the hours of practice every day it takes until you're able to consistently make a ball change direction or pace like this?

i honestly have no idea what i just watched

[Groggery]

i honestly have no idea what i just watched

A display of skill that takes long hours to perfect.

[xpin2winx2]

bodybuilding is not a sport, it's a hobby. and although some sports aren't as mentally challenging as bodybuilding, most are physically more challenging in terms of training.

if one trains for a certain task and competes against another in competition doesnt that make it a sport. You can say that about any sport. Like running for example.

as for the hardest sports are. I would say anything 1 vs 1. Boxing, wrestling, or anything along those lines. Theres no relying on teammates, its all on you and no one else.

[rubik_3x3x3]

You don't think it takes that much dedication to be the best bowler or batsman in the world? Come on you, can you image the hours of practice every day it takes until you're able to consistently make a ball change direction or pace like this?

The throw was obviously incredible, but what just happened rules-wise? Does hitting that peg = win?

This thread is now about cricket lol.