I was a former bodybuilding coach and have done a ton of manual labor.
Bodybuilders are certainly strong as fuck. I was in the top .4% for deadlift by bodyweight. It was a little over 3x my bodyweight.
Bodybuilders have different goals than manual labors.
BBers work for size and strength maximization, symmetry, and joint damage minimization.
Laborers work to complete a job ASAP. Joint health deterioration and pain are notorious.
Familiarity is also monumental. Knowing where to grip is crucial. We've all carried material that cannot support itself and crumbles or breaks. For the bodybuilder in this situation, he is unfamiliar with the material, handling it, which muscles to engage, the form, etc. It's a high risk of injury for the bodybuilder to try to lift that with all his strength
Just guessing that those are 50lb bags of concrete, so 200lbs Those bodybuilders could put that weight on their shoulders and do squats all day. That labourer would likely be done after a few. Same for deadlifting that weight.
Viewers also need to remember they are influencers travelling and making content. They aren't going to trash random people working to show off. No one wants to watch someone that's in the gym all day prove they are stronger than some dude working. That's rude and trashy. They'll talk them up, let them out-lift them, have a great time, go home, post a video, and collect dollars.
Also, if I'm going to risk hurting myself on a lift, I'm doing it in the gym, not carrying random shit
They aren’t going to trash random people working to show off
Also, I haven’t been at the gym enough in awhile, but in my experience, most bodybuilders are decent folks. I won’t say like paragons of virtue or anything but most of them are helpful and humble.
The most improvement I had in my lifting form was from a hulk of a guy asking if I wanted some tips and then spending like 20 minutes basically personal training me.
This is so nuanced reply. My dad/friends/whoever not bodybuilders always quip that "Look at this guy, lifting 1 ton of bag on his back, why you can't" I honestly gave up explaining why and let them be they and let them be me, I just don't give a f**k anymore I guess.
Strongman, bodybuilders, climbers, and gymnasts are all in the same social circles. They all workout together and are all strong af, even without training the same things. Arnold Schwarzenegger practiced ballot for strength and flexibility.
Don’t even get me started on climbing. I boulder.
Realistically, >70% of the training involved are nearly identical. It's the 30% differences that leans athletes into their specializations.
People who go to the gym all know this. It’s non-gym goers that try to separate and categorize athletes.
You're 29 year old, 250+ pounds at 5'9 with a self proclaimed dad-bod. Your window for elite athleticism was the past 10 years. We can tell by your assumptions you were never an elite athlete. Stop pretending to know what you're talking about.
Yeah.. I'm not 5'9" lol I'm 6'1" read that again. Trained a lot since then and went down in weight. You don't know my story, my past or what I do now. Plz don't make assumptions on me. Covid was a difficult period here and I gained a lot of weight during that time.
But, we're not Tall ng about me here. We are talking about elite athletes.
Put a bodybuilder on gymnast rings or clombing routes and he won't be able to do much. Put a gymnast or a climber on a bench press and he will likely be able to do a pretty good weight. Same with a calistenics athlete. A bodybuilder will likely not be able to do a full planche, but the guy that can will have a good bench press weight
Looking at some videos of magnus mitbo comparing to other ahtletes, it sure seems to be that way. I know he's a freak of nature though.
Even though comparing bench press to climbing and gymnast rings is unfair because both of the latter are highly specialized, a huge portion of boulderers come from a bodybuilding background, me included.
Bench pressing is a common exercise and motion, it's a very heavy push up.
Asking anyone that isn't a gymnast to do rings is not fair. And even among gymnasts, it's not really fair unless they train for rings often.
Actually, this^ paragraph is the entire argument. That manual laborer does this day-in day-out for however many years. Let the bodybuilder do this full time for a week and he will be just as fluent. Your body does not change that much in a week, but you can pickup the muscle memory quickly
My point is only that if you are a bodybuilder that only trains very specific movements in specific positions. For example, bench press, row, squat, deadlift, biceps curl. Your strength might be very specific to those movements which are not super diverse.
So when you ask your body to do something less controlled, like pushing over a mantle in climbing, or lifting a big bag of sand that doesn't have good grip, it will feel very hard. They could also injure themselves since their soft tissues are not adapted at all and those take a lot longer to adapt than muscles.
Compared to someone who is used to apply force in a very wide array of positions, it will take them more time. Compared to the average person they will still be faster to adapt since they have very good conditioning
Glad we end up mostly agreeing. You're very right about the speed of adaptation.
Personally, in the same situation as the bodybuilders in the video, I most definitely would not try to 100% lift it. One of those bags could fold in half and fall on their foot. Or the bag itself could rip, and you'll find a bag in your hand and concrete on your feet.
Would also be trashy for ppl that workout all day to point a camera in a laborers face and flex on them. Better to have fun with them, let them show off their stuff, smiles all around, then go home and post a more wholesome video
40
u/Azntigerlion Feb 25 '25
I was a former bodybuilding coach and have done a ton of manual labor.
Bodybuilders are certainly strong as fuck. I was in the top .4% for deadlift by bodyweight. It was a little over 3x my bodyweight.
Bodybuilders have different goals than manual labors.
BBers work for size and strength maximization, symmetry, and joint damage minimization.
Laborers work to complete a job ASAP. Joint health deterioration and pain are notorious.
Familiarity is also monumental. Knowing where to grip is crucial. We've all carried material that cannot support itself and crumbles or breaks. For the bodybuilder in this situation, he is unfamiliar with the material, handling it, which muscles to engage, the form, etc. It's a high risk of injury for the bodybuilder to try to lift that with all his strength