[quote]Pound4Pound wrote:
Fenris wrote:
Pound4Pound wrote:
Bigger stronger, faster…and more cumbersome, less limber, less agile, less coordinated and less athletic. There is a trade-off for bigger and stronger my friends.
Bullshit. You know nothing. The wrong kind of weight training combined with neglecting your other skills will hamper athletic ability. But long distance running will also hamper the athletic ability of someone whose sport is primarily anaerobic. You have to use an intelligent program that attacks sports requirements and addresses weaknesses.
Countless studies have shown that Olympic weightlifters have sprinting times, jumping heights, and jumping distances equal to Olympic track and field athletes. Are you saying that all of these Olympic athletes are “unathletic?”
All professional MMA fighters use weights, and they’re constantly getting faster, stronger, more agile, and more flexible. My sprints got faster when I started lifting properly, my agility improved, and so did my flexibility. Some guys lose athletic qualities when they lift weights, but some guys are idiots.
As far as doing calisthenics, calisthenics don’t always relate as well to a sport. Linebackers, for instance have to use force against external resistance in their sport, hence weight training. Quinton “Rampage” Jackson picks up opponents and slams them. Can’t train that with calisthenics. Hell, even many jobs. You mentioned lumberjacks in your first post. WTF do you think that they’re doing all day? USING EXTERNAL RESISTANCE!!! So, what, instead of mimicking those motions with weights in the gym we should all go and chop down trees for 8 hours a day?
Not to mention economy of time. Let’s say I do 300 bodyweight squats, 100 push-ups, 100 divebombers, and 20 pullups. To keep progressing, I have to increase those numbers. Maybe I get to 500 squats, 300 pushups, 150 divebombers, and 40 pullups. Well, that workout just took twice as long. Eventually, I have to work out for three hours to get the workout that I used to get in an hour (not to mention destroying my joints from over-repetition). Instead, I can bench press or barbell squat and increase the weight gradually, still only training for an hour at a time.
Bottom line: athletes need to train multiple qualities through different means. Here’s an example:
Strength Endurance: Calisthenics
Speed: Sprinting
Agility: Ladder work
Flexibility: Stretching
Maximal Strength: Squatting, Deadlifting
Power/Speed Strength: Olympic Lifts
Skills/Technique: Specific skill, technique work
All things being equal going into a training program, the athlete that uses a comprehensive approach will always smoke the one that doesn’t.
You seem to forget that you’re on a website where the cutting edge strength and conditioning science is available, so all that you’re doing is showing your ignorance.
Of course, as anti-weightlifting as you seem, I wonder if one of the following things has happened:
A) A weightlifter kicked your ass
B) A weightlifter has taken your girlfriend
C) A weightlifter turned you down for a date
You may wonder why we’re all so hostile to you. Well, consider your first post. There is a gulf of difference between an informed, curious criticism and an ignorant, arrogant, bitter insult.
Nice post, you convinced me.
Now some back-ground.
1st of all I’ve trained more, for a longer time, harder and have reached a level of conditioning from weights that exceeds at minimum 90% of the people I’m arguing with.
2nd, after 14 straight years of lifting, I have just recently stopped for the last 4 weeks. The first time I’ve done that in 14 years.
3rd In that time I’ve done sprinting, MMA and bodyweight training daily. I feel better and more athletic than I have in 14 years. Seriously.
4th. I think if anything you all have convinced me that I should resume lifting but realize I want to be athletic and fit as much as strong and powerful. Therefore my routine should reflect that. Instead of 4-5 sessions of weights/week to strive to gain more size and strength, I should hit weights a couple times and maintain focus on sprints, MMA, stretching, plyos and bodyweight excercises as well in order to stay strong and powerful while becoming even more agile, athletic, fast and explosive.
Thanks everyone for their posts…Pound is back on the weights bitch’s!!![/quote]
Hmm. I notice that you are hitting the weights a couple times a week rather than none. Why lift?