Originally posted by: brikis98
Originally posted by: presidentender
snip, see above for context
The problem with bodybuilding routines is that the focus is on
appearance rather than
strength & performance. Although it's definitely possible to do a BB routine safely, few people do, because the having "a certain look" as your #1 priority almost inevitably leads to the following issues:
1. BB routines typically build a very unbalanced body. That is, certain muscles are more important to "looks" than others: for example, most people doing BB routines are MUCH more concerned with chest, abs, biceps and quads than they are with their back, hamstrings, glutes. The OP's routine is a classic example of this. Building muscles in such an unbalanced way not only looks silly (I always laugh at guys with massive upper bodies and chicken legs) but also sets up the body for injury. For example, having the front of the shoulder being much stronger than the back (which always happens when you focus too much on chest exercises and not enough on OH press and pull-ups) leads to rotator cuff injuries. Having quads that are much stronger than hamstrings (which happens from doing too much leg press and leg extensions and not enough squatting and deadlifting) leads to knee injuries. Having super strong abs but a weak back (from too many crunches and not enough deadlift) often leads to lower back injuries. It
is possible to do a well balanced BB routine, but since looks are the #1 priority, few people will. Ironically, a well balanced BB routine will look an awful lot like a standard strength training routine...
2. When looks are the #1 priority, doing an exercise "properly" is not as important. For example, many bodybuilders don't use full range of motion (ROM) for various lifts, such as doing half squats, half bench, etc. Sometimes, this is due to a lack of understanding of how to do the lift properly and could certainly be remedied. However, partial ROM is often used intentionally because it
can be more effective at achieving the goal of a certain appearance. Half squats, for example, supposedly hit the quads a lot better. Similar to point #1, this inevitably leads to injuries.
3. As SociallyChallenged indicated, bodybuilding routines rarely build functional strength. That is, the strength you gain from BB typically does not transfer to the real world as well as the strength you gain from proper strength training. This is the result of including too many machines and isolation exercises in the workout, both of which are staples of BB routines. This means that the 800lbs leg press you do doesn't help you lift a couch, tackle a football player or carry your wife up the stairs
nearly as much as squatting half that weight would. Worse yet, if you try to do those things after a BB routine, you're once again likely to injure yourself as some of your muscles (the quads) have the raw strength to do them but the rest of your body (hamstrings, balance, neuromuscular coordination) is totally unprepared. Obviously, you can include the major barbell lifts in your BB routine and reduce the number of isolation/machine exercises... but then once again, your BB routine looks an awful lot like a strength training routine.
Originally posted by: presidentender
snip, see above for context
First of all, just to clarify terminology, not all strength training is powerlifting. By definition, powerlifting solely consists of the deadlift, squat and bench press and the goal is to maximize how much you can lift in these 3 exercises. The goal of general strength training routines (such as Starting Strength), on the other hand, is to increase the strength of your entire body and not a particular exercise or two. In fact, lifting the maximum weight isn't necessarily even the goal, otherwise every strength training routine would recommend using a very wide squatting stance, very wide bench press grip, etc. The goal is to increase overall body performance and while that's obviously correlated to how much you lift on various exercises (including the deadlift, squat and bench) the two don't always go hand in hand.
Secondly, especially for a beginner, everything else being equal, I think he'll look just as good from a proper strength training routine as he would from a BB routine. If you've been lifting for years and have a significant muscle base to work off, then yes, a specific BB routine may provide better results in the looks department. But for someone just starting out, either routine will produce the kind of hypertrophy gains a bodybuilder wants. The difference is that the strength training routine will do it in a healthy and functional way whereas the BB routine, almost inevitably, won't.