5 ms·

It's for the simple reason that what "looks good" isn't what's going to get you the best results in a sport. Take "strong men" and compare them to bodybuilders.

It's for the simple reason that what "looks good" isn't what's going to get you the best results in a sport. Take "strong men" and compare them to bodybuilders. When you see a bodybuilder on stage, they look like they can pick up a car but in reality they are typically at their weakest point, as most have to get massively dehydrated before the event so they can showoff their veins in their muscles. Compare those guys to "strong men" who aren't training for looks but rather to see how much they can lift. Most of those guys look out of shape and overweight and you can't really appreciate that physique until they go off and bench 700+lbs or squat over 1,000 pounds.

mecsred 3y ago
I agree with most of that, but I feel like I can tell the difference between "strongman" and "out of shape and overweight" pretty easily.
- silverquiet 3y ago
  There's buff-fat, skinny-fat, and fat-fat, and the lines aren't always super fine.
  - tainted_blood 3y ago
    being skinny-fat sucks
    - Iulioh 3y ago
      I was fat fat and now extremely skinny Fat, it is bad. I don't even look fat with my clothes on lol
    - swat535 3y ago
      I was skinny fat once, the best way to combat this is to actually put on weight and muscle. Then eventually lose the extra few pounds. Julian wrote a great guide on this: https://www.julian.com/guide/muscle/ https://www.julian.com/guide/muscle/ HN thread: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12618223 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12618223
- pas 3y ago
  usually it's the "limb muscle" vs "gut fat" ratio (plus the really strong neck is usually a dead giveaway) :)
thefz 3y ago
Take a pro cyclist, he may look scrawny but on a bike he is going to destroy 99.99% of the population even on a bad day. Pros optimize their bodies to win races, not followers. I wonder why this even has to be explained.
- _fat_santa 3y ago
  > I wonder why this even has to be explained. I would say that it's obvious to anyone that works out or is familiar with athletics. But take someone who may not be well versed in this space and it's easy to fool someone
  - red-iron-pine 3y ago
    and in 2024 we're fatter than ever. kids want to compete in Fortnite leagues not soccer leagues...
- doubled112 3y ago
  I think your body tends to get strong where it needs to. In high school, I spent most of my spare time riding my bike. My pants were a size or two too big in the waist so my legs would fit in. I was great at leg press, but I could barely bench the bar. Rock climbing isn't my sport, and I swim like a brick.
  - masklinn 3y ago
    > I think your body tends to get strong where it needs to. It’s more that the human body is very good at shedding the non required. The result is the same, but the logic is different, human physiology will actively and quickly cannibalise under-utilised muscle mass as muscle mass is expensive.
    - doubled112 3y ago
      That explains why my arms are flimsy!
somenameforme 3y ago
I think this is all 100% true. But I would add that what looks good is, for many sports, also what does get you the best results. Most of all combat athletes in sports with weight limits do look like fitness influencers, because they're incentivized to pack as much muscle and cardio into as small a mass as possible. Of course there are plenty of exceptions, but they are exceptions. The same also seems true in football/soccer for reasons that I don't quite understand. It wasn't ever really my sport, and I don't get why those guys are so shredded everywhere. I'd expect to see more 'runner builds' than there seem to be. I guess the necessity for short bursts of intense strength/speed, and rolling 40 feet on the ground after somebody grazes you, changes the optimal body comp.
- JohnBooty 3y ago
  The same also seems true in football/soccer for reasons that I don't quite understand. It wasn't ever really my sport, and I don't get why those guys are so shredded everywhere. They're not just running in straight lines. They're making all kinds of lateral cuts and contorting their body in various ways as they jockey for position with other players for contested balls, on set pieces, etc. Those things rely heavily on core abdominal strength. They also use their arms quite a bit, which is why they are not just withered vestigal appendages.
- jdietrich 3y ago
  >The same also seems true in football/soccer for reasons that I don't quite understand. Soccer players are constantly making maximum-effort sprints with very limited recovery, and they have to contort themselves into weird positions to weave around their opponents and get or keep the ball. They need leanness and power for pure acceleration, but they also need balanced muscularity to protect them against injury. They're part sprinter, part distance runner and part gymnast. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlrAN8tkF2s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlrAN8tkF2s
  - ido 3y ago
    are soccer players really that shredded? I remember Maradona looking pretty chubby when he was still considered the world's prime soccer player.

mecsred 3y ago

I agree with most of that, but I feel like I can tell the difference between "strongman" and "out of shape and overweight" pretty easily.

silverquiet 3y ago
There's buff-fat, skinny-fat, and fat-fat, and the lines aren't always super fine.
- tainted_blood 3y ago
  being skinny-fat sucks
  - Iulioh 3y ago
    I was fat fat and now extremely skinny Fat, it is bad. I don't even look fat with my clothes on lol
  - swat535 3y ago
    I was skinny fat once, the best way to combat this is to actually put on weight and muscle. Then eventually lose the extra few pounds. Julian wrote a great guide on this: https://www.julian.com/guide/muscle/ https://www.julian.com/guide/muscle/ HN thread: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12618223 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12618223
pas 3y ago
usually it's the "limb muscle" vs "gut fat" ratio (plus the really strong neck is usually a dead giveaway) :)

thefz 3y ago

Take a pro cyclist, he may look scrawny but on a bike he is going to destroy 99.99% of the population even on a bad day. Pros optimize their bodies to win races, not followers. I wonder why this even has to be explained.

_fat_santa 3y ago
> I wonder why this even has to be explained. I would say that it's obvious to anyone that works out or is familiar with athletics. But take someone who may not be well versed in this space and it's easy to fool someone
- red-iron-pine 3y ago
  and in 2024 we're fatter than ever. kids want to compete in Fortnite leagues not soccer leagues...
doubled112 3y ago
I think your body tends to get strong where it needs to. In high school, I spent most of my spare time riding my bike. My pants were a size or two too big in the waist so my legs would fit in. I was great at leg press, but I could barely bench the bar. Rock climbing isn't my sport, and I swim like a brick.
- masklinn 3y ago
  > I think your body tends to get strong where it needs to. It’s more that the human body is very good at shedding the non required. The result is the same, but the logic is different, human physiology will actively and quickly cannibalise under-utilised muscle mass as muscle mass is expensive.
  - doubled112 3y ago
    That explains why my arms are flimsy!

somenameforme 3y ago

I think this is all 100% true. But I would add that what looks good is, for many sports, also what does get you the best results. Most of all combat athletes in sports with weight limits do look like fitness influencers, because they're incentivized to pack as much muscle and cardio into as small a mass as possible. Of course there are plenty of exceptions, but they are exceptions. The same also seems true in football/soccer for reasons that I don't quite understand. It wasn't ever really my sport, and I don't get why those guys are so shredded everywhere. I'd expect to see more 'runner builds' than there seem to be. I guess the necessity for short bursts of intense strength/speed, and rolling 40 feet on the ground after somebody grazes you, changes the optimal body comp.

JohnBooty 3y ago
The same also seems true in football/soccer for reasons that I don't quite understand. It wasn't ever really my sport, and I don't get why those guys are so shredded everywhere. They're not just running in straight lines. They're making all kinds of lateral cuts and contorting their body in various ways as they jockey for position with other players for contested balls, on set pieces, etc. Those things rely heavily on core abdominal strength. They also use their arms quite a bit, which is why they are not just withered vestigal appendages.
jdietrich 3y ago
>The same also seems true in football/soccer for reasons that I don't quite understand. Soccer players are constantly making maximum-effort sprints with very limited recovery, and they have to contort themselves into weird positions to weave around their opponents and get or keep the ball. They need leanness and power for pure acceleration, but they also need balanced muscularity to protect them against injury. They're part sprinter, part distance runner and part gymnast. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlrAN8tkF2s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlrAN8tkF2s
- ido 3y ago
  are soccer players really that shredded? I remember Maradona looking pretty chubby when he was still considered the world's prime soccer player.