I think bodybuilding is the hardest sport ever. There are a few reasons why I believe this is true. Unlike most other sports, bodybuilding requires a 24/7 effort. There is no off-season. Everything one does affects their body, and this simple fact must be taken into account for a bodybuilder.
Secondly, building muscle is not easy. Some people are at a disadvantage from the start, because of their genetic profiles. Ectomorphs (people who have trouble gaining lean muscle) must be especially diligent in their diet and training. Mesomorphs (people who can
build lean muscle easily, because of genetics) must train for years to be able to enter a competition. Bodies can only grow so much in a given time period. Bodybuilding is a long-term sport, which adds to its difficulty factor.
Now, I'm sure there are arguments against bodybuilding. I am expecting people to condemn the sport for widespread steroid use. There are a couple bodybuilding agencies who strictly enforce natural bodybuilding by rigorous testing. These include NANBF (North American Natural Bodybuilding Federation) and the NPA (Natural Physique Association). The other agencies are not as strict in their testing, but anabolic steroids and HGH are still illegal. The other argument I am anticipating is the lack of talent/skill involved in the sport. What bodybuilding lacks in talent, it makes up for in dedication. Most people's bodies require exercise six times a week to gain muscle. Most people would never work out twice a day for hours at a time six times every
week. Diet is just as important, if not more important. The optimum muscle building ratios of protein/carbohydrates/fat is different for every one. Finding the right balance can take years. Then, it is a challenge to eat correctly all year round. No other sport restricts one's diet like this; the temptations are everywhere.
I am interested to hear people's opinions. Comment, comment,
comment.
<-- non natural
-->natural
(Little difference)
Yes, definitions matter--here you defined "hard" as physically challenging, but one could argue that chess is more mentally challenging and thus harder. It also depends on your definition of "sport." It could be argued that bodybuilding is simply a "activity" not a real sport, so it doesn't count. But that's just nitpicking. I do agree that as far as physically challenging activities go, bodybuilding is probably high on the list if not #1.
ReplyDeleteI might say soccer is the hardest sport. sure, bodybuilding is physically taxing and requires a commitment, but i think it's much more difficult to play soccer at a high level than to be able to lift a lot of weight.
ReplyDeleteplus, the coordination some professional players must have is crazy. it seems as though the ball is weightless, and they know exactly how to hit it every single time.
The problem is its hard to quantify things like coordination and skill. For example: do hockey players have more "skill" than soccer players? There's no way to really judge.
ReplyDeleteYeah I agree that most professional soccer players have unbelievable coordination. There are some really cool youtube videos I've watched. Mainly Cristiano Ronaldo.
ReplyDeletevery true, bill. skill is relative to each sport. interestingly enough, hockey players will kick a soccer ball around before games to warm up their legs. that's just a random fact I wanted to throw in.
ReplyDeleteand while it wasn't brought up, professional soccer teams rarely sub. I believe the maximum number of substitutions per game is 3 in most leagues, and once you're taken out you can't go back in.
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ReplyDeleteMatt, this is Christina Athineos. I just wanted to inform you that body building is not a sport. Just because you like to put pictures of oiled up men on your blog it in no way constitutes body building as a sport. I understand that you dream of one day becoming a member of the national physique association, but really matt? Come on, even websters dictionary does not define body building as a sport. It defines body building as the developing of the body through exercise and diet ; specifically : the developing of the physique for competitive exhibition. In other words, its male modeling minus the clothes. When people play real sports, they train and develop muscles for use, not for show. And as far as your statement about no other sport restricting diet, have you ever heard of wrestling? Since you clearly spend a lot of time looking up things on the internet (such as ectomorphs and mesomorphs) maybe you should google wrestlers anorexia.
ReplyDeleteI don't really think bodybuilding is the toughest sport only because you're getting judged based on how you look (I think). Those competitions they show on ESPN, the World's Strongest Man ones, are more of a sport because you actually are competing against another person for a better time or score or weight lifted, so it's less subjective. That being said, I do get your point of how it takes a lot of hard work to be a bodybuilder.
ReplyDeleteWrestling does not require a year-round effort and dieting is temporary. Bodybuilders diet while they are preparing for competitions, which is basically all year round.
ReplyDeletematt, in that case, mix martial arts fighting is the most difficult sport. and where did you read wrestling isn't a year round sport?
ReplyDeleteMMA has a mental aspect that may be unrivaled in all of sports, except maybe golf. Bodybuilding has a different type of mental aspect, discipline. And NCAA and High School wrestling is a seasonal sport.
ReplyDeleteyeah, but professional wrestling it isn't. hehehe.
ReplyDeleteand MMA may require even more discipline. not only in training, but in execution as well.
and you have yet to thwart christina's point, which actually has some validity to it.
Christina, 1. it's harder to train muscles for show than for strength 2. 'competitive exhibition" isn't that basically a definition of sport?
ReplyDeleteBrett, MMA fighters have similar training techniques to bodybuilders. However, MMA fighters do not need to follow a strict diet as bodybuilders do. The actual matches of MMA do require extreme discipline among other things. MMA probably has the strongest points for 'hardest sport.'
actually matt exhibition mean display, and the definition of sport is an activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others for entertainment
ReplyDeletebodybuilding fits that definition
ReplyDeleteMatt, Christina's point is that there is no physical exertion in the actual competition, which according to her makes it something other than a sport. This is essentially a problem of definition--you might define something that does not involved exertion in competition as a sport, other might not. But on a common-sense level Christina is right; almost every activity we define as a sport require some level of effort in the actual competition.
ReplyDeleteI am inclined to agree with Brett, there are sports such as MMA or wrestling that require training regimes that are just as strenuous as bodybuilding. As for mental "exertion," I don't see how you can rank any sport higher than another on this scale, as it is almost impossible to quantify discipline and resolve. If I had to estimate, though, I would say MMA requires more mental skill because one's reflexes and judgement must be trained along with one's body.
But I'm curious: why are you so fervently defending body building?
There are proper techniques to posing in competitions but that isn't much of an argument against MMA and others. I might be sold on MMA, actually. MMA requires mental and physical feats of endurance and skill unrivaled in the sports world, it seems.
ReplyDeleteI have to defend it for a couple reasons. My initial opinion was supporting bodybuilding as the toughest sport so I had to stand by my decision. MMA might have risen above bodybuilding in my opinion in this discussion. But I realized how difficult it is to sculpt one's body to their desire only because I am trying to do that now, albeit to a much lesser degree than professionals. But I am sure if I tried MMA I would realize that that is very difficult as well. But that is the reason I defended bodybuilding; because I think it's hard from personal experience.
matt, when you say "how hard it is to sculpt one's body to their desire", then bodybuilding becomes different than a sport. if I take my dog to a dog show, is that a sport? I understand it's a dog and not a human, but the basic concept is the same.
ReplyDeleteand Bill, what I meant by mental skill in MMA is, like you said, judgement, and overall fortitude. I suppose I liken part of it to a mental game of chess or poker, trying to read your opponent and planning your next move.
I know what you mean by mental ability. My only question is how can you quantify things like judgement and fortitude, especially when comparing between two different activities? Like "skill," it is not easy to measure.
ReplyDeleteBrett, the preparation for a competition is the hardest part of bodybuilding. That is not the case for dog shows. The trainer must exhibit calmness and confidence in a dog show so the dog isn't distracted by the unusual venue, etc.
ReplyDeletethe dog has to prepare. if it's a showdog, they're not just born perfect for the event. they too have to be made ready for the event.
ReplyDeleteWould you agree that the preparation for the events are a sport? It's strenuous physical activity. Competitive weight lifting is a sport. Bodybuilders weight lift, but their goals are different.
ReplyDeleteyou've missed the point that they're not actually doing anything. they're just there.
ReplyDeletecompetitive weightlifting could be considered a sport, but they're actually doing something.
Yes, the key is that "exhibition" does not qualify as a sport, regardless of the preparation required.
ReplyDeletePosing is much harder than most people think. There is a right and wrong way to do it. Bodybuilders must take classes to have any chance of placing in a competition.
ReplyDeleteTrue, but I'm not sure that fully refutes the claim that bodybuilding is not a sport. Since it does not require physical exertion, many people still might not consider it a sport. Compare it to Brett's dog show analogy: though there is some skill required in exhibition, there is a difference between a dog show and a sheepdog trial (dogs competing in a skill competition of events related to herding sheep).
ReplyDeleteI see your point.
ReplyDeletein my personal opinion, there are other things that you must train all year round for that constitute as more of a sport than bodybuilding. you can probably see where im going with this but competitive dance is a good example because even though our competition season is january through april, we also have a national competition in june or july and when you're a dancer, there is always something to improve on when you are not specifically training for a competition. i personally am always watching what i eat to stay healthy and take care of myself. when i do this is keeps my body physically able to keep up with my hectic dance schedule and provides me with the nutrition i need to stay strong and what not...but that's just me.
ReplyDeleteDancing may be more of a sport than bodybuilding, but bodybuilding is more difficult because of more intense training and strict dieting. Dance is more of an art, in my opinion.
ReplyDeletedifficulty doesn't make it a sport.
ReplyDeleteAgreed. Also remember that "difficult" takes many forms...there are probably some difficult aspects of dance that are absent from bodybuilding.
ReplyDeleteBrett, what would you classify bodybuilding as?
ReplyDeletethank you bill, there are many difficult aspects of dance that take many years to perfect that are not part of bodybuilding. and on that note, i think people who arent trained in dance dont understand some of the difficulties that dancers face in their strive to become better. and as you said in your original post, certain people have difficulties with body building because of genetics. the same thing goes for dance. for example certain people are born with natural flexibility and turn out in their hips and others are not. people who are not blessed with there natural gifts must work that much harder to accomplish the same talent as someone who already has it.
ReplyDeleteI'd classify it as a hobby, probably. it can still be competitive as well, but it doesn't necessariyl make it a sport.
ReplyDeleteChelsey, why don't you post a complete entry on your argument of dance as the most difficult sport?
ReplyDeletemaybe i will...maybe i should tell brett to let my in the blog.
ReplyDeleteonly if you blog on a semi-normal basis.
ReplyDeleteagreed.
ReplyDeleteYou guys clearly are not assessing the correct question in my opinion. A sport being "harder?" What? Sports are so different in their own specific ways that there really is no way of classifying which sport is harder, nor asking yourself whether body building is a sport or not. The question in my opinion that should be posed is "What makes an athlete," or "What makes someone a better athlete than the next athlete?" The fact that we are trying to argue whether cheerleading is a harder sport than producing Matt's guns is ridiculous, and in my opinion, nobody can be right or wrong. They are different in their own respects (I think Bill made a very good point towards the beginning whereas the skill factor comes in). As the great Dave Matthews once said, " And all the little ants are marching, red and black antennas waving, they all do it the same, they all do it the same way."
ReplyDeleteHi Christina Athineos.
max, i greatly appreciate the dave matthews band reference. i am going to see them in concert in april and im very excited! and i agree with what you said that we should be arguing what makes an athlete, rather than the hardest sport. nice point.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with Max. But I am still waiting for Chelsey's post. Also, I did my best to compare bodybuilding with the various sports discussed.
ReplyDeleteHi Max
ReplyDeletematt, my post will be up by tonight. be prepared
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to it.
ReplyDeletematt, i apologize for the delay. my safari has been really weird with the internet and wont let me get to my email to accept brett's blog request email.
ReplyDeleteexcuses, excuses
ReplyDelete