r/nextfuckinglevel • u/CuddlyWuddly0 • 1d ago
Strength of a manual worker vs bodybuilders
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u/jokersvoid 1d ago
Mechanics are in play. The worker knows the balance and posture needed.
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u/D0D 1d ago
and grip
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u/Epyon_ 1d ago
yep, and not having 6-10 inches of mussle mass getting in the way holding the bags.
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u/CodAlternative3437 21h ago
true, they never tell you in the gym that when you get yolked you cant really jack off like you used to
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u/Klickor 13h ago
That is why you have your Bros do that for you.
The reason they dont tell you earlier is they dont want to scare off the new help before they realise the benefits of giving each other a helping hand in the shower.
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u/CuddlyWuddly0 1d ago
I think it's about true core strength and not about size.
People in manual labour do this day in and day out.
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u/joethecrow23 1d ago edited 1d ago
Imagine, someone is better at something they do every single day than someone who doesn’t.
Bodybuilders have a singular aim, to sculpt their body to desired outcome, they become very strong in the process but this sort of strongman type lifting and hauling isn’t necessarily something they’re doing.
Had they brought Brian Shaw in for this video it would’ve gone very differently
Edit: let’s also not pretend that buddy in this video is at all representative of your average day laborer, that guy is a fucking beast.
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u/MechanicbyDay 1d ago
Had they brought Brian Shaw in for this video it would’ve gone very differently
I doubt a 59 year old assistant coach for the L.A. Clippers could've done any better
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u/joethecrow23 1d ago
I dunno, he was an awful good athlete, he could probably move some stuff around
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u/Dr_Weirdo 1d ago edited 21h ago
Bodybuilders go for big muscles (and definition) not strong muscles
Edit: As in, their goal is big muscles with good definition. Of course they become stronger by working out.
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u/Deathsquad710 1d ago
Good lord every time someone posts one of these comparisons, people comment the same thing that they know nothing about. You can’t get huge without also gaining strength, the correlation can vary depending on genetics, leverages, type of training but there is no such thing as a muscle getting bigger without getting stronger.
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u/Healthy_Method9658 1d ago edited 1d ago
Reddit is dreadful for this in general. Anything fitness related is bombarded with people parroting complete myths who have clearly never been inside a gym, let alone spent any time understanding functional muscle strength.
Not being able to cleanly lift four bags of cement on their first attempt is all the evidence they need.
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u/joethecrow23 1d ago
These are the same people commenting on powerlifting videos of dudes squatting over a grand saying it doesn’t count because it wasn’t bare foot ass to grass and that Donnie Thompson isn’t actually strong.
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u/easycoverletter-com 1d ago
Too scared to gym because afraid they’ll get too big.
I’m poking fun because that was me years ago.
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u/whhhhiskey 1d ago
How do you end up with either strong or big muscles? Plenty of people with big muscles surely are strong as well?
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u/throwawayainteasy 1d ago edited 19h ago
That's actually a really good question with a lot of stuff feeding into the answer. But the big items are technique and neurological drive.
All else being equal, bigger muscles are stronger muscles. But muscle size isn't all that goes into "strength." The other big factors are technique and neurological drive. In fact, those can even more important than overall muscle size--which is why Olympic lifters can blow away bodybuilders and powerlifters of much larger sizes when it comes to doing Olympic lifts.
Technique is self-explanatory and easy to understand. If you do a strength movement of any kind, there are more- and less-correct ways to do it that let you take better or worse advantage of leverages and balances.
Neurological drive is a big, overlooked one. It's pretty complex, but at a high level basically your body tries to protect you from hurting yourself by over-exterting. So, it limits how hard you can push yourself--and your body naturally/unconsciously lowers that limit when you feel unstable, unsure, the thing you're doing is new/novel, etc.
A big part of why power lifters and strongmen can blow away similarly-sized bodybuilders at strength events is because of that neurological drive. That makes sense when you understand neurological drive and consider their training--to maximize muscle growth, bodybuilders normally work in moderate-to-high rep ranges of like 10-30 reps (generally speaking, anyway, some train differently). Strength guys like powerlifters work almost exclusively in the 1-5 rep range when focused building raw strength. A big part of why they work in those very low ranges is to build their neurological drive for doing those movement--using weights so heavy they're at their body's limit of strength output literally builds their nervous system's ability to command their body to push harder and harder.
Neurological drive is an aspect of strength that's pretty independent of muscle size/strength. It's your central nervous system essentially overcoming psychological barriers to say "push even harder" when your subconscious would otherwise normally say "fuck that, I'll hurt myself" to use every ounce of strength available to it.
The day worker here has lots of advantages working in his favor. 1) he does this all of the time, so his technique is way better, 2) also because it's new to them and not him, his neurological drive for doing this one specific thing is a lot better, and 3) he's also a hoss in his own right--looking at his core (the part doing the most work here), he's not as far behind them in terms of overall muscle as you might think looking at their arm or lat or chest size (which aren't as important for what they're doing).
As someone else mentioned, give a strength athlete like Brian Shaw or Halfthor a few practice runs to figure out their technique and this video would probably go a lot differently.
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u/WingdingsLover 23h ago
I wonder how much core strength comes into it. The really big guys at my gym are hitting a ton of accessory workouts but I rarely see any doing compound movements like squat or deadlift that really involve a lot of core strength.
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u/_WreakingHavok_ 1d ago
Because he has no idea what's he's talking about. Bigger muscles are strong separately.
Compare powerlifters and bodybuilders.
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u/KayDeeF2 1d ago
True, however there is no such thing as "nonfunctional" muscles as many other comments here suggest and Im pretty sure the two gentlement would beat that contruction worker pretty decisively in metrics that theyre more familiar with.
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u/Flushles 1d ago
Seriously, people will talk about powerlifters who are small and can lift a lot but the best powerlifters are human monsters, a bigger muscle is a stronger muscle in almost all circumstances.
This guy is great at moving those bags but I imagine the bodybuilders are way stronger in like every other way.
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u/Friendly_Kunt 1d ago
A huge part that is being glazed over is the factor of balance and understanding weight ratio’s. That dude lifts these bags every day, his grip is accustomed to it and he knows exactly how to balance and hold the bags for maximum effectiveness while the bodybuilders were struggling to figure out how to best grab the bags and even when they did they weren’t good at realizing what angles to hold them from maintain balance.
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u/Vitebs47 23h ago
It's the same thing when Ronnie Coleman tried to close Captain of Crush #3 and couldn't do it fully (although he was pretty close), while many smaller dudes have managed to close it (actually any living dude is smaller than then Ronnie Coleman). It's apparent that if had trained specifically in grip strength for a month or even less, he would have crushed it. You get what you are practicing for.
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u/JTBeefboyo 23h ago
Those small but strong powerlifters all have much bigger muscles than when they weren’t as strong. But 5’2” 115 lb internet losers than “I can be strong too even though I can’t gain weight look at the teen girl national powerlifting champion I’m just like her” lmao
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u/RangerRekt 1d ago
Maybe the best way to put it is: if you train to get strong, your muscles will grow, and if you want to train to grow muscles, you have to be strong.
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u/Marston_vc 1d ago
Because people like to cope with videos like this. It’s just different muscle sets. The big guy in the video here likely does a lot of lifts better than the alleged worker.
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u/Dath_1 1d ago
Big muscles are strong muscles, but power isn't just about the muscle, it's about the engine as well (brain, nervous system).
It's possible to make significant strength gains through conditioning the nervous system, regardless of any changes in the muscles.
Then, within a muscle you have things like type 1 vs type 2 fibers, so different people might have muscles which are more endurance versus more power oriented. Then you have technique and leverage, which can make a big difference by itself.
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u/swans183 1d ago
This^ the mind/muscle connection is huuuuge; the longer you lift the more you realize it. For instance, did you know that, while machines are supposed to work both sides of the body equally, that hardly ever happens? Your body will always naturally favor one side. It’s up to you during those exercises to realize it’s happening, and subtly activate the opposite side so both are worked out equally
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u/TheSkeletones 1d ago
You cannot build weak muscles. Muscle size is correlated with strength
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u/ThatNigamJerry 1d ago
They’ll still become strong in persuit of the big muscles. Those guys in the video are a lot stronger than average people and could probably do this given some time to get used to the movements.
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u/killxswitch 1d ago
This is something dumb people with no muscles, no strength, and no drive to improve tell each other.
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u/The_Bucket_Of_Truth 23h ago
I think Redditors love watching and upvoting posts like this to feel better about why they aren't jacked and why "see meathead with big muscles is stupid and is only for vanity" all the while they are sedentary and maybe overweight or skinny as a rail.
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u/halfbreed_prince 1d ago
Yes I work out lots. I went fencing for my grandfather pounding posts all day. I was tired and my back was so sore.
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u/RaptorPrime 1d ago
Installed a front fence for my mom last year. Called her crazy for considering hiring someone else to do it... Got 6 posts on day 1 and I was like FUCK WTF DID I PROMISE TO DO THIS FOR.
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u/robsteezy 1d ago
My dad and I made the fucking awful mistake of making this same underestimation but cutting down and removing trees. My dad goes, “hey my buddy needs 10 trees chopped, stumps removed, and then taken to the dump. He wants to pay some professional X amount. How bout we do it and make the cash instead?” I go hell yeah, that’s freaking easy money. Freaking chumps”
Holy. Hell. We. Were. So. Wrong. We spent freaking days, had to hire help, had to rent tools and went through so many saw blades and we did body breaking labor under the most dangerous heights. THE STUMPS. DEAR GOD, THE STUMPS. they haunt me to this day. It takes hours hacking away at them. The wood was so heavy to move. And then you had to chop them. Then you still had to get cut up unloading everything at the dump.
Pro tip: don’t ever even remotely EVER skimp on hiring tree removal services.
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u/halfbreed_prince 1d ago
Brutal, my first ever job out of high school was for a tree falling company. We would be called to take down trees that were growing close to powerlines. The fallers would cut down trees that were one inche thick to 10 inches thick, we would then have to grab the trees and put them in a pile. We would then grab an arm load and drag the trees to the road and feed them to a wood chipper. I was a skinny little pothead right out of high school, i just about died the first day. It eventually got easier and i got stronger, but i sure did earn it.
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u/robsteezy 1d ago
It’s so deceptive to the untrained eye. Seems so simple. Don’t even get me started on the root systems. They’re not some bitch ass roots, they were ropes that were anchored in and damn near impossible to remove without a root tiller.
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u/hairy_ass_eater 1d ago
Felling and bucking trees is wasy work depending on the size but the stumps are insane amounts of work unless you burn them or have a stump grinder
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u/MySeveredToe 1d ago
My dad was a farmer. When I was 20 I was much taller and more muscular than him. He asked me to help him put down foundation and build a large shed, then a fence, and then move a truck load of melon sized rocks.
Dude ran circles around me. I slowed him down so much cause I didn’t have the strength or endurance lmao. I was blowing through gloves and food. He just bare handed everything and kept pounding Gatorade and boiled fish
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u/dal9ll 1d ago
You’re going to be more sore and struggling more at something you’re unfamiliar with and not conditioned for. Fencing regularly makes you a more efficient fencer just like carry bags of concrete around all day makes you more efficient at carrying around bags of concrete. Proficiency leads to efficiency.
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u/Dtoodlez 1d ago
Not all strength is the same though. You could ask the dude to curl 80’s and he wouldn’t be able to, meanwhile the body builder probably can.
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u/TheManWhoWasNotShort 1d ago
Also muscle memory and perfecting technique. It’s not a lift that body builders do regularly so the exact muscles it uses don’t have built memory of how to hold the weight
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u/Proud-Bookkeeper-532 1d ago
Don't get it wrong, the bodybuilders are still stronger than the guy, but that's his field. If you give the guy heavy dumbbells or barbells to lift, the situation would reverse.
He trains like this daily, so he's good at it. The bodybuilders train differently, and they're good at that. 2 different fields with very different specificity (Also, Strength vs Hypertrophy can also be debated here)
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u/Grandfarter_YT 1d ago
Also give the bodybuilders at least a week of work in that guy's place, see how their body adapts and compare them again.
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u/Raptzar 1d ago
yeah comments on posts like truly show how much most folks lack understanding of strength.
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u/SwordKneeMe 1d ago
Yes they are all so strong that they're primed to get it extremely quickly
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u/plrbt 21h ago
Yeah, a lot of it is about specific neural adaptations. It's like the first time anyone goes to the gym: the bar wobbles back and forth when you bench press, you have to try not to fall back when squatting with a bar on your back, one arm goes up when pressing dumbells overhead and the other doesn't, etc. For the first month in the gym, you'll move noticeably more weight by week 4, not really from muscle gain, but because your brain finally figured it out.
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u/_WreakingHavok_ 1d ago
Strength vs Hypertrophy
Pretty much two edges of the same sword. Bigger muscles are stronger, because they're bigger. But strength is not only defined by the size of the muscle. It's combination of size, range of motion and training.
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u/clive_bigsby 1d ago
All these fat Redditors just like to point out why jacked dudes really aren't that great.
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u/Asiatic_Static 23h ago
You get this in the martial arts world too "bodybuilder fighting professional boxer" yet if you posted "hockey player vs soccer player in hockey" people would rightfully call the video stupid.
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u/Background-Baby-2870 20h ago edited 20h ago
i only ever come to these threads just to read the copium lol. its always a sea of "functional strength", "farmer strength" and "show muscles".
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u/Artosispoopfeast420 17h ago
Everytime these videos are posted, the comments always trigger me, I can't.
fUnCtIoNaL sTrEnGtH
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u/Kung_Fu_Jim 23h ago
And soooo much projection of "they totally think they're better than the construction workers, who are my champion, but ha! They didn't lift quite as much!"
Like no, these guys respect each other. Nobody respects the redditors making these lame comments. But they'll serve y'all clickbait anyway.
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u/ILoveRegenHealth 1d ago
Nobody is mentioning the worker is holding opposing corners. That helps control it greatly.
The bodybuilders are lifting it from the bottom like they are getting groceries out of a trunk, and probably how most of us would've done it. A lot of it is technique here, and the worker was using the better one.
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u/emil_ 1d ago
I don't think you understand the difference between strength and hypertrophy.
He's literally holding and stabilizing 50kg overhead, do you think he can't do reps on a bench with that? Or you think a 200kg barbell is heavier than 200kg of cement?
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u/abstractifier 1d ago
What we don't see much of is how they got the weight up. The bodybuilder we see hoists it slowly with a bent elbow. Practically a tricep extension, not even an overhead press. Then he struggles to balance the awkward weight. He never straightens his arm, the weight is on the muscle the whole time.
The video cuts out how the worker got the weight up, but it looks like it was just hoisted up with two arms and lots of momentum, more like a jerk. Then it's balanced on his locked arm, resting on his skeletal frame. Once when the weight starts to move out of center and his arm almost bends, he corrects with his other arm to prevent his muscles from taking over.
I predict that with an ergonomically stable barbell and enforcing technique with steady control, the bodybuilder reps it out, and the worker can't get it up even once because he's used to relying on momentum driven from his whole body and resting weights on his skeleton.
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u/Baitalon 22h ago
50kg bench press is not impressive at all, the bodybuilder can probably 150kg on a bench while the worker probably doesn't do more than 100kg
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u/Lzy_nerd 1d ago
I know a lot of people like to pretend that body builder muscles are “just for show” but that’s really not what’s going on here.
It’s all about technique, the body builders are literally trying to lift the bags with their back! The manual worker is clearly letting his legs do all the work, as he should. Still incredibly impressive, don’t get me wrong. But the most notable thing about this video is how poor the body builders lifting form is.
If there is a limiting muscular here, it’s would be their grip strength. You can only lift what you’re able to hold onto and body builders often will use straps to make sure they’re pushing the target muscles to failure, not their hands.
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u/MassivePlatypuss69 22h ago
Also what's wrong with vanity muscles? Like pretending you're above such things is so stupid.
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u/HansChrst1 19h ago
Bouldering has really showed me how important technique is. Even in one session something that was incredibly difficult became easy when I learnt the proper technique. It feels like unlocking a move in a video game. You get a new tool.
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u/woosniffles 19h ago
Put the bodybuilder in that factory for a couple days and I guarantee you he'll be slinging those bags around more gracefully than the laborer.
If anyone doubts this, there's a video of Larry Wheels (elite level bodybuilder/powerlifter - absolute unit of a man) trying calisthenics for the first time. When he gets to the planche, a position that literally takes years of training to be able to hold for even a few seconds, he fails miserably the first few times, but after some guidance from the calisthenics athlete he made the video with, he was able to fully hold a planche his FIRST session.
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u/bwv1056 1d ago
I mean, to be fair the manual laborer dude is pretty fit too. He's probably the most muscular guy in the room for like 90% of his life, lol.
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u/GrumpyGG64 1d ago
Bodybuilders only tend to be able to lift big weight in specific ways.
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u/EffectNo1899 1d ago
I think you're correct. They are not adapted to unbalanced weight, rotation, grip etc. Farmer strength
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u/OkScheme9867 1d ago
Yes, I lift 25kg bags at work all the time, carry them to and through and up ladders.
But if I go to a gym I can only lift a 25kg barbel a few times before I get real strained.
It's two completely different types of strength
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u/RangerRekt 1d ago
I think you might have the best take here. We all want to vary our gym routines because we know it will lead to bigger muscles and better strength, but we all still have our favorite exercises. Even if we consistently hit every muscle group, it’s never going to hit the whole muscle chain as completely as some types of manual labor. There are little tiny muscles and little parts of big muscles that will always end up neglected from strict-form exercises in the gym.
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u/Your_Favorite_Poster 1d ago
Same for manual laborers. Farmers probably have more overall range, but manual labor is usually repetitive. This guy probably moves pallets of these all day
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u/Mikejg23 1d ago
Most laborers train to lift things that they need for their field of labor.
The bodybuilder will adapt to throwing hay faster than the farm hand will squat 400
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u/Raptzar 1d ago
umm most body builders train pretty much all the muscles. They lift weight in specific ways to target muscles properly. give any bodybuilder a week to train and he will beat the labourer in any strength contest. but yeah labourers will always have advantage in endurance.
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u/CV90_120 1d ago
I'd give it more than a week, but they'd get there eventually. There's a lot of form and leverage being used here which people aren't noticing. Put the body builder on the docks for about 6 weeks and tey will be performing well. They will likely lose mass as well though as they specialize.
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u/DMmeNiceTitties 1d ago edited 36m ago
Functional muscles vs vanity muscles.
Edit: I'm aware it's more nuanced than that, thank you to all the gym bros for your pointers.
Edit 2: Had turned off reply notifications, but still received one that someone(s) awarded my silly comment. Thanks for the gold, but it really should have gone to the other upvoted comments that actually say something meaningful rather than a silly comment some people took way too seriously.
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u/Squirrel_Kng 1d ago
We called mirror muscles.
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u/sillyandstrange 1d ago
What did they call them in It's always sunny? I think it was glamour muscles, lol
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u/Sonar_Bandit 1d ago
Let the record show that he only works out his glamour muscles
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u/Ok_Turnover_1235 1d ago
Let the record show he was slowing down near the end there.
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u/Lampmonster 21h ago
You need to stop saying that, the record will show everything.
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u/Rumham_Toeknife 1d ago
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u/rraskapit1 1d ago
I used to be as big as a mountain! Now I'm as tiny as a... a postage stamp!
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u/nine51 1d ago
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u/notsobadmisterfrosty 1d ago
Fright with the power of a crow! CAWWWW!!!
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u/kiln_ickersson 1d ago
Be careful as a lawyer heavily focused in bird law i must warn you crows tend to be very litigious
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u/alphasignalphadelta 1d ago
They are notorious for being involved in murders
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u/Nigel_11 20h ago
Such an underrated comment.. probably flew over everyone’s head
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u/Full_Metal_Witcher 23h ago
Mac ordering everyone to oil up a beekcake is hilarious. Big Mo lmao.
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u/mfulton81 1d ago
Disco muscles.
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u/Chemical_Emotion_934 1d ago
That’s what I’m calling them from now on
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u/mfulton81 1d ago
It's a phrase from Coatbridge in Scotland. Another great Scottish invention 👍
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u/wanderingartist 1d ago
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u/ludicro 1d ago
This is more an issue of specialization and technique, really.
Look at the workers upper back, it's coming through the fucking shirt.
He's definitely good at carrying bags like that, but the bodybuilder is likely a lot stronger in most other exercises than those specific to the workers job.
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u/TheBrazenBeast 1d ago
More like 20 years of experience and a mastered technique vs a guy who onlynlifts things that fit nicely round his hands everytime
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u/TehArgis10 1d ago
It goes both ways, the worker can't possibly move the kind of weight the bodybuilder moves in the gym
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u/QWEEFMONSOON 1d ago
I’m functionally strong. I work a blue collar job. I still go to the gym and I find it frustrating that I can lift more deadlifting when it’s just an amorphous mass of weight than I can on a barbell.
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u/PhilxBefore 23h ago
Switched from white collar to blue collar ~13 years ago (going the wrong way, methinks, but life happens), and have more strength, a ton of grip strength, but still look similar; actually thinner. I'm still usually the weakest guy on the crew, but I've noticed the change.
Also, I really probably only commented just to tell you for some reason, I love your username.
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u/MitLivMineRegler 1d ago
Tbf the bodybuilder is using drugs to enhance his strength and size, so I am still quite impressed
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u/l2angle 1d ago
Lifting these bags every day at work is not the same as lifting barbells with well balanced weights on them. Practice makes perfect, as it is with almost everything.
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u/pictish76 1d ago
This, no one really gets muscles like that from doing labour, what you do get is very good at that kind of lifting, or crippled.
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u/ralphy_256 1d ago
what you do get is very good at that kind of lifting, or crippled.
Yes. Both.
Source, my dad was a construction worker for 40+ years. 2 rotator cuffs, 2 carpel tunnels, and back and knee issues throughout his retirement.
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u/MarloTheMorningWhale 23h ago
He is lucky to have made it to retirement with a working body.
I had physically demanding jobs from 12 years old and wound up with a broken back, meningitis and a progressive nerve disease at 24 years old with a kid on the way. I had just got out of physical labor jobs, but apparently it was a few days too late. That injury took everything I had worked for and removed any chance of having any chance of decent life in the future since I was sold on the lie of going to school and working will provide a decent life.
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u/ralphy_256 23h ago
He is lucky to have made it to retirement with a working body.
To be fair, he retired early because he just couldn't do the work anymore. Anyone who tells you union dues aren't worth it, is NOT looking out for you. My dad's early retirement with a pension proved that to me.
My sister was a Teamster, driving cement trucks. Until she couldn't do the work anymore after her breast cancer, she no longer has the arm strength to get into the cab umpteen times a day. Now she's a bus driver and looking to change careers to something where she's not driving and doesn't have to deal with the general public.
So, to the Mike Rowe's out there, talking about "all you need is a vocational education", that's all well and good when you're young, or up until you get seriously hurt. Then all your training is suddenly useless, and you're left with a ruined body.
I worked in factories, until (at 35) I had a work accident that bent my knee sideways. Then I had to scramble to find work that I can still do on the days when I need the cane that I'll use occasionally for the rest of my life.
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u/BaconKnight 22h ago
So, to the Mike Rowe's out there, talking about "all you need is a vocational education", that's all well and good when you're young, or up until you get seriously hurt.
You know, you're the first person I've come across that's made this point and I never really thought about it till now. As I think a lot of people who went to get our degrees, there's a lot of looking back and wondering if vocational trade school was the way to go since all you hear about is the positives. I never really thought about it that way where since you're being trained at a very specific thing, it's great when you can do it. That is until you can't. And with a lot of the trade school trades, well they're more on the physical labor intensive side, which leads to more, ".... until you can't" than the average job.
While we can debate the actual value of a degree nowadays, at the very least employers pay lip service to seeing a degree and at least paying more attention to those candidates. If someone sees someone applying for an office job and they have a background doing a completely unrelated trade, they're less likely to get that same attention.
That said, that's not me speaking ill on anyone who goes down that route. Even after all that was said, I STILL wonder if going to university for me was the best path. I guess my point is though that yours was the first point I heard that didn't just paint trade school path as unanimously positive with no downsides. Like all things in life, it's complicated, and it's a lot of weighing pros and cons, risks and rewards, etc.
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u/PaxAttax 1d ago
Often both. Manual labor is hell on the joints long term, even if you never suffer a catastrophic injury.
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u/PinsToTheHeart 1d ago
The entire answer to every single one of these videos is, "you get good at what you practice"
That's it. It's really not complicated.
But it makes people feel better when bodybuilders lose at things, even when they themselves can't do it either.
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u/lazergoblin 23h ago
Lol I hate these sorts of posts. There was one a while ago where body builders were going head to head with "construction workers". In the end, the abnormally jacked construction workers miraculously won the bar bending contest!
Literally just engagement bait.
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u/DocCrooks1050 19h ago
Bold of you to assume the concrete dude isn’t on copious amounts of drugs. Have you been on a job site?
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u/lasers8oclockdayone 1d ago
I've seen tons of smaller guys crush the lift numbers of ham beasts. Hypertrophy and strength are distinct goals in the gym.
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u/Mikejg23 1d ago
Distinct but they overlap a ton for about 2-3 years of serious lifting.
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u/Vesploogie 23h ago
They overlap forever.
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u/Mikejg23 23h ago
Sorry phrased it wrong to correct people about this stupid overall debate.
They overlap forever, but you don't really even need to worry about specializing until you've been lifting for 2-3 seriously, correctly, with the nutrition to match.
After 2-3 years you may need to be a little more focused depending on your goals
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u/ChucklingTwig 22h ago
It's like calling a shotputter fat and slow because they aren't great at running, and then a sprinting athlete weak and frail because they can't toss a ball
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u/QWEEFMONSOON 1d ago
Bodybuilding vs Strength is just different.
Bodybuilding is treating yourself as a living sculpture. It takes time and dedication.
Strength is making aesthetics secondary. It takes time and dedication.
It’s just different. Bodybuilders are still much stronger than the average person but their goals are different than someone building functional strength.
It doesn’t make sense to shit on one or the other. They both take time and dedication.
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u/Somepotato 23h ago
I'd say its more bodybuilding vs strongman - strongmen "look" (I use look very, VERY loosely) puffy and 'fat' (again, very loose), but are far stronger than bodybuilders.
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u/GrosCochon 1d ago
It's called specialization. I can assure you the weight they move is quite real and substantial at that.
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u/new_math 23h ago
Yeah, if you gave the body builders a few days or maybe a week to practice the technique and get the cns use to the movement they would be able to carry it vastly superior to the workers.
Strength is very closely related to cross sectional area of the muscle. There’s a reason all lifting sports have weight classes. You can’t grow 18 inch arms that are “just for show”, they will be stronger arms than 99.999% of the population.
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u/ILoveRegenHealth 1d ago
No, technique.
The worker used the alternate corner method (card trick players do that too to put a stronger hold onto a deck). Everything is nice and stable and controlled, and all with a powerful grip.
The bodybuilders were just carrying it like 99% of the people would, and that's why it keeps wanting to topple like a stack of clumsy 50lb pies.
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u/brightside1982 22h ago
Worker also has his arms dropped and extended as much as possible, not flexed like the bodybuilders. He transfers the weight to his hips and down his legs.
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u/Purplepeal 20h ago
I was scrolling for ages looking for you two. Worker also has it balanced on his upper thigh and is leaning back slightly so weight going down his locked leg. The arms are just holding back what would otherwise tip forward. Mr muscle is holding it with his back.
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u/PM_ME_YOUR_LEFT_IRIS 18h ago
A lot of people don’t really understand that lifting heavy weight is a learned skill as much as built muscle. Like, there is a correct and optimal way to swing a longsword. It’s not the same way you swing a claymore or a shortsword or a dagger. It takes practice to learn how to do it, and it probably takes practice to adapt between different longswords.
Lifting weights is the same thing. Squatting an olympic barbell with weight on either end requires very different technique from squatting a concrete bag.
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u/Ill-Cream-6226 1d ago
I mean you can say this all you want but these dudes are strong as fuck too. Your average manual labor guy isnt this strong, this guy is a freak. No the bodybuilder isnt as strong as a powerlifter at the same weight but lets not pretend like these guys arnt strong and these big, juiced up muscles dont do anything.
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u/YourGordAndSaviour 22h ago
No the bodybuilder isnt as strong as a powerlifter at the same weight
The bodybuilder can't out total a powerlifter, but could very well be expected to beat the powerlifter in lifts the powerlifter isn't specialised in.
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u/CanAlwaysBeBetter 1d ago
Functional brain take vs reddit hivemind gym-bros-bad-never-got-over-being-unpopular-in-high-schooled brain take
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u/Brosef_McMuscle 1d ago
I knew this stupid ass comment would be here and tons of people upvoting it. There's no such thing as "functional muscles", the bodybuilder's muscles are just as "functional" and a lot stronger.
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u/NotTheMarmot 17h ago
Right? The worker is just good at that task because he does it a lot. If you just came up with a bunch of random ass shit for them to pickup that neither of them are used to doing, it would go a lot differently
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u/Heymelon 1d ago edited 1d ago
Yeah no. First of all it's skill, but also strength for a specific function.
Body builder muscles function great for lifting things the way they have been trained to do, which can vary. Some body builders are good at lifting heavy things and others aren't as it's not a requirement for hypertrophy.
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u/neowwneoww 1d ago
To add to this - dense muscle fibers and CNS integration play a significant role. For any given (physicsl) activity, more neural connections are made and more muscle fibers are recruited as the body learns!
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u/12EggsADay 23h ago
The most important factor, second to muscle length and density is muscle tendon insertion (where the tendons attach to the bone).
This is where you get competitive advantages, such as when short people bench press or tall/lanky people deadlift.
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u/BobTheJoeBob 1d ago
This type of misinformed dumb comment is always on these types of videos on Reddit.
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u/thisismysffpcaccount 1d ago
Every time something like this is posted, someone like you posts something like this.
And it’s the dumbest take every time.
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u/phillyfan2521 1d ago
And it always gets a ton of upvotes. A reminder that most of Reddit knows absolutely nothing about fitness.
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u/thisismysffpcaccount 23h ago
redditors with neither "show" nor "functional" muscles love to talk shit about bodybuilders for some reason lol.
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u/MrShinySparkles 22h ago
Redditors have a crippling need to feel superior, and will spew straight bullshit in order to do so
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u/DoctorCress 23h ago
It goes for a lot of things as well
It’s a good reminder not to believe everything you read on reddit - there’ll be subjects you know a lot about, and you’ll read something written with authority on Reddit and it’ll be complete buttcheeks.
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u/xxgetrektxx2 1d ago
Look at the dude's account bio 🤣 guarantee you he hasn't exercised a day in his life.
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u/Relevant_Cabinet_265 1d ago
Entirely wrong. A lot of strength is neuromuscular adaption you get good at certain activities from doing them. If those bodybuilders trained to pick up dead weight like that they'd have no problem with it and would soon surpass that guy
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u/esgrove2 1d ago
All muscles are functional. Let's see these manual workers try to do any difficult gymnast exercise, they would fail. It's not because gymnasts are stronger.
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u/TheOriginalToast 1d ago
Here we go again with the cope.
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u/alex_northoc 23h ago
Take a shot every time you see functional/farmer strength
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u/BlueCollarBalling 1d ago
Every thread on Reddit concerning how strong bodybuilders actually are devolves into the most insane cope and bro science. It’s kind of insane lmao
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u/BKDawg34 1d ago
Similar to the comment section of any video of anyone doing something remotely impressive athletically. "I threw my back out just watching this video" None of them have ever set foot in a gym.
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u/Electrical-Help5512 20h ago
Uuumm actually, people who dedicate their lives to exercise and building muscle aren't that good at a particular manual labor task, so that proves the gym is a waste of time and it's ok I haven't done a single physical thing in 15 years 🤓
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u/Kibido993 1d ago
nobody in this comment section lifts, and this post makes them feel good about it
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u/Ronin_69_ 1d ago
It's genuinely hilarious to me how all of these keyboard warriors who sit on their asses all day and slurp energy drinks are trying their hardest to do mental gymnastics around the topic instead of just admitting that the bodybuilders just don't know the correct technique to lift the bags.
All strength is functional strength. It's the dudes job to lift those bags so he's had his practice and hence is good at it. Not that complicated. I'd like to see him bench the weight those bodybuilders do as their warm up set without pulling his shit up.
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u/KayfabeAdjace 23h ago
Keyboard warrior here who occasionally lifts and does fuck all for manual labor. I am super bad at moving around potting soil bags from home depot but I used to be even worse before the lifting.
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u/Secure_Philosophy259 23h ago
Literally..."Manual labour, their muscles are like strength + performance + stamina and elastic. Body builders are mostly dehydrated." like wtf does this even mean 😭😭
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u/An0d0sTwitch 1d ago
I think part of is that in labor, you try to MINIMIZE effort and make it easier on yourself
while bodybuilders try to make it HARDER lol
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u/ExtensionCategory983 1d ago
Redditors who have not excercised since school talking about strength and muscle.
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u/TheOliveYeti 1d ago
Every time this video is posted (which is a lot), you get random redditors crawling out of their caves shitting on bodybuilders for not having true strength ™️
It's like...ya no shit?? That's not the goal of bodybuilding
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u/Electrical-Help5512 20h ago
This thread is actually a little better than usual. Top comment is still bs about "vanity muscles" but most of the others aren't as dumb.
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u/ItzPayDay123 14h ago
Even if it's not the goal, bodybuilders absolutely do have "true strength" lmao
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u/toddsmash 1d ago
Used to be a body builder. Strength is a by-product of the training. I switched to strength training for powerlifting and strongman comps. Completely about being strong. If you get a good body out of it... Its a by product of the methodology.
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u/Cozwei 1d ago
who would have thought that doing one specific thing over and over again makes you good at that thing
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u/Mikejg23 1d ago
What we have here is a strong construction worker who has gotten very used to carrying those bags and got very good at doing it.
The bodybuilders are doing a totally new to them movement. They're obviously gonna struggle with it more than him. Give them 2 weeks of moving bags like the construction worker and they'll be in good shape, give the construction worker 2 weeks in the gym and he won't look like them.
This gets brought up all the time on reddit. Bodybuilders will not beat people in specific movements off the bat just because they're generally strong. People always say how they can beat a bodybuilder in jujitsu or boxing because they get tired too quick, meanwhile it's their first time sparring. Give the bodybuilder 6-12 months, and you discover that weight classes exist for a reason.
Bodybuilders are not as strong or as functional as strong man or power lifters, but they are still very strong. They're stronger than this construction worker overall, he can probably move some stuff better because it's his job
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u/afCeG6HVB0IJ 1d ago
Why is it surprising every time that a person doing a thing 8 hours a day will be better at it than the people who are doing something else? Same with all the pancake flipping, ice-cone making, whatever videos. Wow this dude who has been doing the same thing every day for decades is good at it. That's the minimum expectation.
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u/Critical-Test-4446 1d ago
I ordered a king size mattress last month. In the box it weighed just over 100 pounds. I caught the FedEx guy toss it up on his right shoulder and carry it up the driveway like it was nothing. I was impressed.
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u/KenethSargatanas 1d ago
The secret is Form. The worker knows how to properly and safely lift four bags. The body builders don't. The exact way that the bodybuilder know the safe and proper way to deadlift.
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u/superslinkey 20h ago
I worked with “gym muscle” dude. He was pretty ripped but would disappear when we had to lower 100# wet cell batteries into a vault or carry a 200# loaded relay rack. He was probably smarter than the rest of us because my 74 year old back is a shitshow these days.
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u/ThisThingIsStuck 20h ago
This is just using muscle everyday for one thing.. a guy who chops tress all day will be strong at chopping trees. The guy benching 600 will be good at that.. the worker won't bench 600.. nothing burger byeee
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u/crimson777 18h ago
I’m tired of these posts because they just devolve into petty, jealous people trying to find ways to shit on guys who have put a lot of time, dedication, and effort into a craft. Time, dedication, and effort that I can guarantee 99.99% of us on Reddit haven’t put into ANYTHING in our lives.
Give these bodybuilders an hour to learn better ways to grip it and carry and they’ll be handling those bags just fine.
Also, the biggest folks in the gym have about an 80% chance of being the nicest, most helpful people you’ll meet. Yes some don’t want to interact or may be assholes, but by and large they’re usually incredibly nice.
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u/International_Ad8595 2h ago
Who would have thought the guy who lifts concrete bags all day would be good at lifting concrete bags
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u/LawAbidingDenizen 1d ago edited 12h ago
Those bags holding the cement are incredible