Fast-5 Diet and Lifestyle: Re: [fast5] (Cassie) (strength training)

Monday, May 11, 2009

Re: [fast5] (Cassie) (strength training)

I'm not clear on the science of body building either, but
it IS clear that "big" muscles aren't necessarily strong muscles.
The best example of this is meat chickens ... they have
really big muscles but can barely walk. As opposed to say,
monkeys, who have insanely strong and dense muscles such
that they can't swim easily.

The thing is, if you are a farmer and want to make a really big
chicken, you do it by feeding them high-protein food 24 hours
a day (they have lights on, so the chickens never sleep,
and the breed they use is always hungry). The chickens grow
really quickly and they have way more muscle than heritage
birds, or the same breed that has been fed once or twice day.

Anyway, I raised a batch that way and they got LOTS of muscle
but they were very weak ... couldn't fly and could barely walk.
They were not terribly fat though. Just too much muscle.

So the next batch I fed only once or twice a day. These grew
to a decent size, but slowly, and they were a lot more healthy.
Not such big muscles. But they were stronger, and
could walk.

Now, the heritage birds eat very little (no matter how much food
is available) and they also have very little muscle by comparison.
But they can FLY and almost never get sick.

Which is a great example of genes vs. diet! Anyway, the
experience convinced me that "muscle bulk" isn't much use
in and of itself. "Muscle strength" though, is a good goal.

On Mon, May 11, 2009 at 2:24 PM, Karen <laurvick@charter.net> wrote:
>
>
> I still don't quite get the difference between 'body builder' and 'strength
> trainer'… my power lifting partner seems to think that body builders just
> pump up their muscles; that they're not really 'strong'. But I've got a few
> female body builder friends who are stronger than I am and one is smaller
> than I am! ^shrug^
>
>
>
> For the most part, I lift heavy weights for few reps; a body builder, to my
> understanding, has a higher rep range (for instance, 12 reps instead of 6 or
> 8…).
>
>
>
> Tomorrow, I will dead lift and will give 215-225# a try. I weigh 140.
>
>
>
> ________________________________
>
> From: fast5@yahoogroups.com [mailto:fast5@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of
> Cassie Luu
> Sent: Monday, May 11, 2009 2:48 PM
> To: fast5@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: Re: [fast5] day one (Cassie)
>
>
>
> when you say 'strength trainer', does that mean that you're a body builder?
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