What is more important to you - being strong or looking strong?

[needfasp3ed]

I train for both. 95% of the people involved in my life could care less what I can bench or deadlift, only the few who see you in the gym will even know what you lift.. But i guarantee A LOT more people will care about what you look like. Although I do love hating on guys who look huge but cant put up 225 .

 

[b fold the truth]

I train for both. 95% of the people involved in my life could care less what I can bench or deadlift, only the few who see you in the gym will even know what you lift.. But i guarantee A LOT more people will care about what you look like. Although I do love hating on guys who look huge but cant put up 225 .

Just a thought...but when my happiness depends on what other people think about me and my appearance, I need to rethink my mentality and purpose in life.

 

[bluflame]

After 30 years of lifting, I look as strong as most anyone my age. But I just love being stronger than the young bucks that think they are bad and just constantly look at themselves. If you lift for strength, your body has no choice but to get bigger.

If I was in the dating scene my viewpoint may be different, but I doubt it. My wife of 25 years loves my size and strength, and that is what matters to me.

 

[ghettostudmuffin]

I'd prefer to both look strong and be strong. If forced with literally only being strong or looking strong, but not actually being strong I would prefer to just be strong.

That said it's pretty easy to be big AND strong if you eat enough AND have average or better genetics. Waaaay too many guys are so concerned with their 6 packs and "looks" that they will never graduate to actually being strong in the first place compared to a strong lifter(ie. weightlifter, powerlifter, strong man etc).

Everyone has varying opinions on what constitutes strong. I do believe that most could come to a reasonable agreement on the subject if they were to lay out a set of lifts that compared to the average sedentary man would prove the lifter to be strong enough as to distance himself considerably enough from the common man to be considered "Strong" in general yet perhaps not particularly strong in several lifting circles opinions.

I'm running on here abit, but there is one thing I can say and that is that strength and size do have a pretty solid relationship provided the person eats an adequate amount of food to drive muscle growth.

I have known maybe a dozen casual bodybuilders(aka lifestyle not competitive) that were very decently sized and built in the range of 205-230lbs in attractive condition and not one of these guys benched any less than 275lbs for 8 reps and the average seemed to be around 315 for reps to have a considerably muscled upper body particularly in the chest, shoulders and triceps.

This is just one particular lift emphasizing a few particular muscles, but this observation has been pretty damn spot on from what I have seen from typical gyms in the past 17 years.

I have not seen one guy that could bench 405 for a decent raw rep in person that was not pretty damn big. Granted, I have seen several guys on youtube in the range of 195-215lbs bench this much, but these guys are typically genetically quite abover average at least in the upperbody. "Most" guys that have gotten strong enough to bench 405 or more raw have developed considerable muscular bulk to press that much weight up.

It's very easy to say oh man 405 is nothing, but only someone significantly above the genetic average would make such a statement. I have known a handful of hardworking powerlifter's over the years that were genetically average and in some cases below average on the bench press(often related to arm length/narrow shoulder girdle) that will never bench that much even in a single ply shirt.

Anyhow enough rambling from me.

 

[NBAfan#21]

Just a thought...but when my happiness depends on what other people think about me and my appearance, I need to rethink my mentality and purpose in life.

Im not pointing fingers at you but even most people that lift for strength are usually comparing themselves to the guy next to them doing the same lift. Soi guess their hapiness depends on other people knowing how strong they are.

I personnally started training to be bigger but now after 2 years i realized that strength is just as important for me and my goals are to lift more weights than the guys around me

I wouldnt allow myself to turn fat though even if it would mean getting stronger

 

[SpyWizard]

I'm making a conscious effort to look stronger than I am this year.. dropping 20 lbs and just being more healthy, less stress on my body.. but hey, i'm getting older, the only person i want to impress now is me..

 

[needfasp3ed]

Just a thought...but when my happiness depends on what other people think about me and my appearance, I need to rethink my mentality and purpose in life.

Good point. Although my happiness doesn't depend on what others think of me. I was just making the point that overall people care more about what you look like rather than numbers you can put up in the weight room. But if you're like me you gotta be the alpha male in both categories!!

 

[brownbrown]

I cant vote Really limited options there!
I dont lift to be able to lift more than anyone else my size in the gym. Nor do i lift to look like a Spartan.
I lift FOR ME and what i want. I want to be Bigger and stronger. I feel Full inside when i start putting on size. and Feel confident about myself when i add weight to MY exercises.
Screw the Guy in the GYM flexing in the Mirror in between sets. He could bench 450 squat 600 and curl 180 and i wouldn't give a dam. because his power doesn't scare me, impress me nor does it make me feel inadequate.
Just my .2cent.

 

[b fold the truth]

Good point. Although my happiness doesn't depend on what others think of me. I was just making the point that overall people care more about what you look like rather than numbers you can put up in the weight room. But if you're like me you gotta be the alpha male in both categories!!

I understand...and shouldn't have come across as I was pointing fingers at you.

I'm just at that point where I'm tired of trying to look good because that holds back my performance.

 

[ghettostudmuffin]

If performance is the goal and bodyfat % isn't a significant performance effector ie. powerlifting, weightlifting, strongman provided cardio is sufficient then I wouldn't worry about appearance.

I'm at the point that another year of consistent training and compared to your average, medium built gym lifter I'm going to be fucking huge and way stronger. At that point since I don't have any serious competitive plans atm and have an idea just how strong I would like to be while looking like X image I'll probably start slowly leaning out.

For me squatting 500lbs for 5 reps with just a belt to below parallel and benching +350 for 5 reps at like 240lbs decent looking bodyfat% is where I'm aiming for long-term and sustained.