Un physique fonctionnel : BDJ vs Pavel
Posté: 26/11/2003 22h47"As Pavel comments:
T: You’re pretty quick to call out bodybuilders and their "fake" muscles. What’s so bad about being big?
Pavel: It’s a matter of preference, but in some activities super-sizing is inappropriate. Middleweight weightlifters are the strongest relative to their bodyweight. You don’t see many 250 pound rock climbers because, well, they’re all dead. As your bodyweight increases and you get heavier, your relative strength gets compromised more and more. Take a SWAT officer who has to carry 45 pounds of gear plus his bodyweight. If he weighs too much, he won’t be able to get over a fence or climb into a window fast enough. So where relative strength is an issue, being too big is inappropriate.
T: So you’re more about functional, real world strength?
Pavel: [snip] If you have any sense you should ask two questions: 1) How many of your guys does it take to bench press 500 pounds? and 2) How is the bench press supposed to help you with any of the physical demands of your duty? One of the top tactical officers in the state of Texas, a Brit named Mark from SAPD, kicked butt at the last state SWAT competition. The man can knock off twenty-some pull-ups and does rock bottom one-legged squats with ease. How much does this officer bench? He tried it once and did 225. Not a bench press to write home about. But that it is the point.
Unless you are training purely for looks, you must focus on the strength needed for your sport, job, or lifestyle.
Grappling - Coaches such as Karl Gotch (sp?) and Matt Furey recommend "train as the animal does"...a variety of bodyweight movements always within your limitations. I found an old article. A friend, who I was chatting with about my research, noted that Furey was in a wrestling match with a bodybuilder powerlifter who was probably using some "artificial assistance" a few years ago and Furey, who only does bodyweight training--pushups, bodyweight squats, etc.--apparently took the poor weight trainer down three times!
Other Sports - Football, field athletes, etc. Could only find limited examples of HIT/HD/Train-to-failure pro athletes. The Washington Redskins did it at one time; so did the Cincinnati Bengals of the NFL. In fact, the success of pure strength style athletes in the NFL has been abysmal...witness the failure of the World's Strongest Man, Bill Kazmier, when I tried out for a pro football team. Never made it out of training camp. Or for that matter, the performances of the late Mike Mentzer, Lou Ferrigno and Franco Columbu at the old World's Strongest Men events. Had a very difficult time keeping up with the more athletic strong men and football players in events requiring strength and skill and did not have the pure power of the strength athletes."
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Complete BS.
Mentzer, Ferrigno, Kazmier, etc. ALL ON STEROIDS.
Take an average person who is not on drugs and who is not FAT (abs clearly visible) and who focuses on building muscle. Chances are that person will never exceed 200 pounds.
Consequently, it is complete BS that Pavel would warn the AVERAGE PUBLIC against building as much muscle as possible, as they would become "less functional".
He's against it because he likely does not know how to do it, or that muscle does not build well on his "system" that he is attempting to push (which I can understand). Check out his physique. I'd rather be a bit less functional, yet look better than he does. I'm not saying he looks "bad", but my concept of a developed physique does not embody his body.
There are plenty of wirey and skinny people out there who are very strong for their body weight, but that does not mean much to me. Or consider the strength to weight ratios of children (particular young female gymnasts). Do I want to look like them if I could achieve their ability?
Regardless of what many people may claim on this or any other board ("I'm focusing on strength gains"), there is a big "ego" part of exercise, which means we want to look better. Ever notice at strong man competitions that even the "fat" flex their arms (during cameo spotlights)? "
T: You’re pretty quick to call out bodybuilders and their "fake" muscles. What’s so bad about being big?
Pavel: It’s a matter of preference, but in some activities super-sizing is inappropriate. Middleweight weightlifters are the strongest relative to their bodyweight. You don’t see many 250 pound rock climbers because, well, they’re all dead. As your bodyweight increases and you get heavier, your relative strength gets compromised more and more. Take a SWAT officer who has to carry 45 pounds of gear plus his bodyweight. If he weighs too much, he won’t be able to get over a fence or climb into a window fast enough. So where relative strength is an issue, being too big is inappropriate.
T: So you’re more about functional, real world strength?
Pavel: [snip] If you have any sense you should ask two questions: 1) How many of your guys does it take to bench press 500 pounds? and 2) How is the bench press supposed to help you with any of the physical demands of your duty? One of the top tactical officers in the state of Texas, a Brit named Mark from SAPD, kicked butt at the last state SWAT competition. The man can knock off twenty-some pull-ups and does rock bottom one-legged squats with ease. How much does this officer bench? He tried it once and did 225. Not a bench press to write home about. But that it is the point.
Unless you are training purely for looks, you must focus on the strength needed for your sport, job, or lifestyle.
Grappling - Coaches such as Karl Gotch (sp?) and Matt Furey recommend "train as the animal does"...a variety of bodyweight movements always within your limitations. I found an old article. A friend, who I was chatting with about my research, noted that Furey was in a wrestling match with a bodybuilder powerlifter who was probably using some "artificial assistance" a few years ago and Furey, who only does bodyweight training--pushups, bodyweight squats, etc.--apparently took the poor weight trainer down three times!
Other Sports - Football, field athletes, etc. Could only find limited examples of HIT/HD/Train-to-failure pro athletes. The Washington Redskins did it at one time; so did the Cincinnati Bengals of the NFL. In fact, the success of pure strength style athletes in the NFL has been abysmal...witness the failure of the World's Strongest Man, Bill Kazmier, when I tried out for a pro football team. Never made it out of training camp. Or for that matter, the performances of the late Mike Mentzer, Lou Ferrigno and Franco Columbu at the old World's Strongest Men events. Had a very difficult time keeping up with the more athletic strong men and football players in events requiring strength and skill and did not have the pure power of the strength athletes."
"--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Complete BS.
Mentzer, Ferrigno, Kazmier, etc. ALL ON STEROIDS.
Take an average person who is not on drugs and who is not FAT (abs clearly visible) and who focuses on building muscle. Chances are that person will never exceed 200 pounds.
Consequently, it is complete BS that Pavel would warn the AVERAGE PUBLIC against building as much muscle as possible, as they would become "less functional".
He's against it because he likely does not know how to do it, or that muscle does not build well on his "system" that he is attempting to push (which I can understand). Check out his physique. I'd rather be a bit less functional, yet look better than he does. I'm not saying he looks "bad", but my concept of a developed physique does not embody his body.
There are plenty of wirey and skinny people out there who are very strong for their body weight, but that does not mean much to me. Or consider the strength to weight ratios of children (particular young female gymnasts). Do I want to look like them if I could achieve their ability?
Regardless of what many people may claim on this or any other board ("I'm focusing on strength gains"), there is a big "ego" part of exercise, which means we want to look better. Ever notice at strong man competitions that even the "fat" flex their arms (during cameo spotlights)? "
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