Mad at Bodybuilders for Being So Strong

Kai Greene: I’m not a weightlifter.

Proceeds to shoulder press 405 for multiple reps man handling the weight.

Derek Poundstone: I’m one of the best pressers in the world @ 340lbs!

Proceeds to push jerk a 415lb axle.

I am mad. Is there some magic formula IFBB pros take to make them so damn STRONG?

I am convinced that an IFBB pro could save my life from a car rolling on me than a pro strongman or elite powerlifter.

Please for the love of the universe fix this flaw in the space time continuum ahh!

haha, kai greene is very strong, duh, you cant be that big without being strong,

but those are two very different movements.

and yes, i watched the kai greene vid

poundstone also CLEANS the weight before he presses it, which makes the two lifts you point out even MORE different.

To be fair I’ve seen a vid of poundstone fail a 405 seated shoulder press but he’s not really one of the best pressers in the world

I’d say he’s a very proficient presser in his own regard. It’s just strange to me. It seems like an IFBB pro almost laughs at elite strength athletes because they are much much bigger and just as strong. Is it because pro bodybuilders are on huge amounts of juice? Several different kinds? Makes no sense!

[quote]strongmanvinny wrote:
I’d say he’s a very proficient presser in his own regard. It’s just strange to me. It seems like an IFBB pro almost laughs at elite strength athletes because they are much much bigger and just as strong. Is it because pro bodybuilders are on huge amounts of juice? Several different kinds? Makes no sense![/quote]

both kai and poundstone will be taking as mich drugs as they can get their hands on

also kai is not much bigger than poundstone there are pics of poundstone at 315 with abs

bbers use fake weight on all training videos

[quote]zraw wrote:
bbers use fake weight on all training videos[/quote]
this

[quote]zraw wrote:
bbers use fake weight on all training videos[/quote]

is there any proof to this?

[quote]zraw wrote:
bbers use fake weight on all training videos[/quote]

REALLY?!

[quote]heavythrower wrote:
haha, kai greene is very strong, duh, you cant be that big without being strong,

but those are two very different movements.

and yes, i watched the kai greene vid

poundstone also CLEANS the weight before he presses it, which makes the two lifts you point out even MORE different. [/quote]

Kai was bending back so far in that video it was practically an incline bench. True, guys that do a standing press bend some, but not THAT much

[quote]strongmanvinny wrote:
Kai Greene: I’m not a weightlifter.

Proceeds to shoulder press 405 for multiple reps man handling the weight.

[…][/quote]
more like steep incline bench press which is a completely different movement (nonetheless very strong)

[quote]Dead_For_Life wrote:

[quote]heavythrower wrote:
haha, kai greene is very strong, duh, you cant be that big without being strong,

but those are two very different movements.

and yes, i watched the kai greene vid

poundstone also CLEANS the weight before he presses it, which makes the two lifts you point out even MORE different. [/quote]

Kai was bending back so far in that video it was practically an incline bench. True, guys that do a standing press bend some, but not THAT much[/quote]

you’re right.

it’s pathetic.

I skipped to the part of the video that was the pressing and not the set up… I thought I was watching incline benching until I saw him got off the shoulder press bench. I think that is part of the reason.

[quote]yolo84 wrote:

[quote]Dead_For_Life wrote:

[quote]heavythrower wrote:
haha, kai greene is very strong, duh, you cant be that big without being strong,

but those are two very different movements.

and yes, i watched the kai greene vid

poundstone also CLEANS the weight before he presses it, which makes the two lifts you point out even MORE different. [/quote]

Kai was bending back so far in that video it was practically an incline bench. True, guys that do a standing press bend some, but not THAT much[/quote]

you’re right.

it’s pathetic. [/quote]
I don’t know if its pathetic. Its just not as impressive

This is impressive

[quote]Facepalm_Death wrote:
This is impressive

I have seen that video before. I makes it look so easy. CT said Redding could front squat well over 800.

I hope this video shows (New at this)
Zack Khan is arguably one of the strongest bodybuilders, benching 6 plate’s a side for 2 reps. The quality is shit, but couldn’t find the better quality video.

[quote]MytchBucanan wrote:

[quote]Facepalm_Death wrote:
This is impressive

I have seen that video before. I makes it look so easy. CT said Redding could front squat well over 800.[/quote]

Redding was by far the strongest olympic lifter of his era, maybe even ever. The only one I would see as being as strong is Enaldiev. His problem was that he didn’t handle pressure well. In minor competitions or training he would beat Alexeyev’s best but in the olympic and world championships Alexeyev always psyched him out.

It is true that in videos and photoshoots they often use fake weights. Most of the time these guys are in contest shape, where they are more at risk of injuries. Let’s say you have the Olympia and a big paycheck coming I doubt that you would risk an injury.

However many bodybuilders really are strong. Efferding, Johnny Jackson, Amit Sapir (whom I have trained for a long time) are among the many VERY strong bodybuilders.

They will be very strong in simpler movements like the bench press, squats, deads… but not so much in lifts requiring more timing (push press, olympic lifts, etc.). Someone with that much muscle cannot be weak, even if he doesn’t lift that heavy (relatively speaking).

Another thing to consider is leverage. A lot of bodybuilders are on the short side compared to strongmen competitors. A lot of them actually have fairly short limbs which makes them very strong pressers and squatters.

[quote]strongmanvinny wrote:
Is there some magic formula IFBB pros take to make them so damn STRONG?[/quote]
Other than training four to six days a week for 10 to 20 years while keeping a specific goal in mind? Nah, probably not.

That’s not a real sentence. I think you left out a word or three.

I swear it’s like people don’t read the articles here anymore. [frowny face, teardrop] Bodybuilders are absolutely not always “just as strong” as pro strength athletes, partly because of their training methods and partly because they simply don’t need to be. It depends on the exercises and circumstances we’re talking about.

As I wrote in an article just last week:

Want to see a bodybuilder’s functional strength at work? Let’s look at what happened in 1993 when Tom Platz and his epic quads had a friendly test of strength against Fred “Dr. Squat” Hatfield.

Platz was well-known for his phenomenal leg development built by heavy squats, high-rep squats, and heavy squats for high reps. Hatfield, who earned the nickname “Dr. Squat” by successfully squatting well-over 1,000 pounds in several competitions, was clearly no slouch in lower body strength.

Yet, when the two legends had a “squat off” and each squatted 505 for max reps, Platz came out the clear winner, racking up 23 reps to Hatfield’s 12. That, my friends, is why you don’t challenge a bodybuilder to a weighted “max reps” contest. It’s where their functional strength shines - performing multiple repetitions with a moderate to heavy load - and it’s no coincidence that it also happens to be an ideal way to build muscle.

However, earlier that day, when the two men compared their max squat for a single rep, guess what happened? Hatfield dominated by lifting 865 to Platz’s 775 (supposedly with a spotter giving him more-than-a-little help out of the hole). Again, challenging a powerlifter to a one-rep max contest is not a good idea. Functional strength, fully demonstrated.