Shit that dudes legs are still better than mine…
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Definitely bigger calves than me. But when say I want my calves to be as big as my thighs, this is not what I mean.
I think my arms are getting close to the size of my thighs.
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that’s dumb. just go to google image and type in ‘pro bodybuilder’ or ‘pro bodybuilder most muscular’, and you’ll literally see THOUSANDS of images of guys who have muscles that look like this who are much taller.
If you’re suggesting the physique in the first picture is achievable naturally, you’re out of your mind. It’s not. Unless that is just one VERY flattering photo of the guy.
you’re not ‘destined’ to look any particular way. I can tell you, though, that the odds are you won’t look like any of the guys in the pictures. If you work very hard, you might look like Dolph or Peterson one day, but it’s doubtful. Those guys are ELITE athletes. Their physiques are rare. And most people who look like them do use steroids.
At any rate, I can promise you that no matter what you do, you will never, ever accidentally achieve the look in the first picture. So if that was a real concern, you are safe.
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I feel like, for Dolph in particular, this can’t get emphasized enough. Dude speaks like 5 languages, has a blackbelt in Kyokushin karate, was a bodybuilder, actor, has advanced academic degrees in ridiculous fields of science, etc.
When God made Dolph, he was clearly using cheat codes.
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It always blows my mind how each sport produces such a different physique.
His cardiovascular system and muscular endurance must be world class!
Does the sport produce the physique, or does the physique find the sport?
We tend to think the former, but think of it this way: how many 5’5 300lb triathletes got weeded out at the local level because the body simply wasn’t going to perform well? And then how many decently in shape guys got weeded out at the next highest level because it wasn’t the most ideal body? Etc. Akin to saying “Man, basketball must make you tall: look at the NBA!”
The training certainly will tailor your body to better suit it, but for these top notch guys, a lot of times it was just finding the sport that best suited their bodies and going full tilt into it.
Not a correction or anything, more just an interesting observation.
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My feeling has been is the physique finds the sports… for what its worth
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I agree with the world class/top notch guys. Obviously its a weed out process as you go up levels.
But I feel like each sport produces a training effect. Just like in lifting.
Take person A - 160lb male, 5’6
Take person B - 200lb male, 6’1
Person A will most likely excel in soccer, boxing, olympic lifting, and possible even track and field.
Person B will most likely excel in basketball, football, tennis, volleyball, and maybe strongman.
This is just based on their body types. But what I mean is that if Person A and B decide to both enter strongman, in 5 years both will be pretty jacked and strong. If Person A and B decide to both go into distance running, they are both going be to ripped to shreds with excellent lungs.
Each discipline (if it is your main discipline) I think your body will reflect that over time.
BUT I agree that the physique does find the discipline.
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Indeed. And if all that wasn’t enough, he has a freakish frame, with doorway-wide clavicles and relatively small hips. For this reason, IMO his physique is unattainable for the vast majority of us no matter how hard we work.
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It’s my experience with both of these communities that leads me to not quite embrace this. My wife is super into distance running. As of this weekend, she has run 25 half marathons and 2 fulls, along with various 10s and 5ks. I have been at the majority of her races.
There are a LOT of fat runners. People dedicated to distance running. And even of non-fat runners, there are way more just average looking people who run distances compared to ripped to shreds folks. The ripped folks ARE the elite folks of the group, and they’re going to go far, but for the majority of these folks, they look like how they looked before running, or maybe a few sizes smaller, and they’re really good at running.
In strongman, there are a LOT of fat strongman. And not as in “World’s Strongest Man 300lbs of lean mass and 100lbs of fat” but as in “A box of donuts away from needing a scooter at Walmart”. And even among the non-fat, at a local competition, you’re gonna see a lot of folks who look like they’re fit and probably lift some weights, but if you saw them on the street your mind would never say “strongman”. The ones that are jacked will go places and do things.
This isn’t to say that training doesn’t help with transformations. It certainly does, and yeah, specific training will have specific demands, but for the most part people seem to just end up looking like bigger, smaller, fatter or leaner versions of what they started with. The people who have the genetic gifts to always be super lean tend to excel at running, and the guys who can look at a weight and add an inch to their biceps become great strongman, and we tend to fill the middle.
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The “pro bodybuilders” you are talking about are probably in the IFBB and are most definitely on steroids. I am saying that it is likely for a short guy to look like Jeff Nippard and be natural, but it is not likely for a tall guy to be natural and look like that.
Thanks for COMPLETELY ignoring the science. There was a scientific study published that said that 25 is the natty limit. Tell me how a man who claims to be in a natural bodybuilding organization uses steroids. How in the world has he not been banned?
This was hard to hear, but I have to accept that you are right. However, if I could look close that would be great. Thanks for assuring that I won’t look like a freaky bodybuilder. Many people have been emphasizing this point, and I understand now.
you really don’t know the answer to this question? I guess I’m willing to answer in a general way…
there are ways to beat drug tests. there are many, many, MANY athletes in every pro sport who are using banned substances and not getting caught.
I’ve used many banned substances for several years, and I can tell you that if I wanted to compete in a natural bodybuilding contest in a few months, I could pass any test they gave me.
You are naive as to what’s really happening in the pro ranks. I’ll leave it at that.
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Then that means the whole system is pretty flawed. If in a country where steroid use is illegal and it is so easy to break the rule and get away with it, what is the point of having a rule in the first place.
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Actually … most people in the know will say that study was flawed…
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i agree with most of this. I personally would like to see the banned substance lists significantly altered for most pro sports.
I think the reason is so that leagues can take a moral high ground and say they’re at least trying. That would make sense to me: PR reasons.
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Thanks man for letting me know.
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I am in high school, and in health and PE they told us repeatedly all the horrible things that will 100% happen to your body and your career if we use steroids, and I believe them. What you are saying is debunking that. Healthy looking individuals are being accused of steroid use?
All the freaking time … its more or less a witch hunt. U tube guys are the worst at doing that.
That is not what that study says. Very few studies would be so bold as to set a limit like that.
That study states what has been observed within a population, and draws a conclusion of what is probable. They are in no way saying 25 is a hardset limit and anything above that means someone is on steroids.
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