Is Bodybuilding a Sport?

SanoVitae

My job is in a very competitive industry, I work very hard and I strive to be the very best at what I do.

I guess that makes me a business athlete.

Canis Lupus

I don't personally like bodybuilding, I think it's ridiculous. I 'admire' the dedication and time it takes become the best but for me it all boils down to taking your body to a stupid extreme to look pretty in your underwear for a few minutes. I can't give anyone serious credit for dedicating their life to such a goal.

I wonder at what point would you say a bodybuilder is someone with mental/self image problems that has an outlet (with the overtones of health attached) for it/them? Do I wrongly accuse them when placed against say.... the best marathon runners or Ironman competitors?

SanoVitae

Canis Lupus wrote: »

I don't personally like bodybuilding, I think it's ridiculous. I 'admire' the dedication and time it takes become the best but for me it all boils down to taking your body to a stupid extreme to look pretty in your underwear for a few minutes. I can't give anyone serious credit for dedicating their life to such a goal.

As a teen, I used to be mad into bodybuilding about 20 years ago. I always got the impression that the contests were merely the icing on the cake for the professionals. The main thing was the lifestyle - as in the dedication, the comradery, the gains made in the off-season, the goal setting etc.

Canis Lupus wrote: »

I wonder at what point would you say a bodybuilder is someone with mental/self image problems that has an outlet (with the overtones of health attached) for it/them? Do I wrongly accuse them when placed against say.... the best marathon runners or Ironman competitors?

I'd guess that the average person on the street has the same problem relating to an Ironman competitor as they do a bodybuilder. They can't understand what would motivate someone to work so hard for a goal they themselves do not value at all. So they tend to dismiss the activities and belittle those who partake in them.

flyer88

Its not a sport end of.

King of Kings

it is a sport.

SIX PACK

My ans is yes But you gonna have to take steroids if you wanna get massive end of story doesn't matter how good your Genitics are,
I have been a member of a few Gyms & their is always guys tellin me if I need any Juice let me know, Creatine will only get you so far but if you wanna get proper big Dbol etc is the only way apparently, (but its not for me)

itsallaboutheL

SIX PACK wrote: »

My ans is yes But you gonna have to take steroids if you wanna get massive end of story doesn't matter how good your Genitics are,
I have been a member of a few Gyms & their is always guys tellin me if I need any Juice let me know, Creatine will only get you so far but if you wanna get proper big Dbol etc is the only way apparently, (but its not for me)

I demand that you increase your posting frequency.

Tigger

Barry.Oglesby wrote: »

Oh right okay I see what's happening now, you just don't understand what skill is.

For something to be a skill from a sporting point if view, there has to be a variable. On one end of the scale, a variable would be an opponent trying to stop you from doing whatever it is you're trying to do. On the other end would be wind for example.

So for a bodybuilder, all of the lifting in the gym is free of skill, that's just technique applied. In the kitchen for the rigid diets, that's discipline and knowledge, and in terms of optmising their drug taking, that's also just knowledge and of course access. On stage for posing, the only variables would be nerves, experience etc. which only the most anal of individuals would derive the term skill from.

So when people ask me if it's a sport, I say no. Not because I dislike bodybuilding, but because I simply can't stand to compare Brian O'Driscoll taking a ball in full flight with someone standing still and clenching.

olympic lweightlifting or powerlifting have no variables as you describe them are they sports? and pole vault, hammer throw, javelin, discus or even running ona track have few if any variable these days especially indoors so are indoor track and field sporting events?

Transform

Bodybuilding as a spectacle is enjoyable

as a method to help people drop fat and get in shape its not the best approach

Its a sport for those that compete at it IMO

itsallaboutheL

Transform wrote: »

Its a sport for those that compete at it IMO

If i could thank that twice i would.

superfish

of course its a sport I bet half the people who commented have never seen the inside of a gym in their life. what defines an athlete, a being of superior strength and endurance id like to see anyone here do a full squats session or even try a few reps on bench at 140 to 160 kg, see if after doing this you still think its not a sport

The Davestator

superfish wrote: »

of course its a sport I bet half the people who commented have never seen the inside of a gym in their life. what defines an athlete, a being of superior strength and endurance id like to see anyone here do a full squats session or even try a few reps on bench at 140 to 160 kg, see if after doing this you still think its not a sport

What a silly post considering some of the people who have posted in this thread.

Kev M

Posing doesn't involve any skill?? Tell that to Kai Greene, Lee Labrada, Melvin Anthony or Vince Taylor.

Or does this need an "Is Posing A Skill?" thread?

flyer88

No....ur all gays if ye think bodybuilding is a sport


Infracted.

kmick

The ulitmate sport if this article is to be believed.
http://www.mensjournal.com/everything-you-know-about-fitness-is-a-lie/1

flyer88

Thats a load of bs and u know it

Lantus

If bodybuidling is truly a sport then so is Miss World and Rose of Tralee.

All of the above are judged on aesthetic qualities ONLY. You cannot seperate one from the other.

The Guvnor

It is most definitely a sport.

Posing on stage is actually very hard - hard even for someone who is not slightly dehydrated and hungry!

An additional question is when do you become a bodybuilder - only when you step on stage or when you start training in the gym?

SanoVitae

The Guvnor wrote: »

An additional question is when do you become a bodybuilder - only when you step on stage or when you start training in the gym?

If it's the latter, then everyone who posts on this forum is a bodybuilder....

itsgrand

Lantus wrote: »

If bodybuidling is truly a sport then so is Miss World and Rose of Tralee.

All of the above are judged on aesthetic qualities ONLY. You cannot seperate one from the other.

Don't the girls from the Rose of Tralee have to show good personality? and talent?

The Guvnor

SanoVitae wrote: »

If it's the latter, then everyone who posts on this forum is a bodybuilder....

Therein lies the dilemma/debate!

Stevo1011

El Horseboxo wrote: »

I see it more as a hobby. If someone asked me if i played any sports i'd never answer yeah i do bodybuilding. Granted i don't compete so i don't have that angle to defend it from.

I want to get into bodybuilding, im at a gym but dont seem to get any results so i cant be doing a good routine.

Are there any specific gyms or personal trainers for people wanting to get into bodybuilding? thx

COH

Stevo1011 wrote: »

I want to get into bodybuilding, im at a gym but dont seem to get any results so i cant be doing a good routine.

Are there any specific gyms or personal trainers for people wanting to get into bodybuilding? thx

Tommy Staunton does personal training out of RAW.. I can PM you his number if you like

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWpUzgO2f3g

Stevo1011

yea please, thanks

Lantus

The Guvnor wrote: »

It is most definitely a sport.

Posing on stage is actually very hard - hard even for someone who is not slightly dehydrated and hungry!

An additional question is when do you become a bodybuilder - only when you step on stage or when you start training in the gym?

Posing on stage is very hard?!? It may well be and I dont doubt that a tremendous amount of effort goes into it in preperation. But so do the girls in any beauty contest. I'm sure they would argue that what they do is difficult in terms of preperation and developing personality as someone else said (a type of training.)

But ultimately the winners and losers are judged on aesthetic qualities which are completely subjective and personal to one persons perspective. They change with fashion and trends and can be influenced or changed by small factors, again all subjective. Given a different set of judges a completely different set of results could conceivably be obtained for each competition which as a competition is fine, but as a sport seems wrong.

I believe that a sport should have a measurable and definable quantity which can seperate individuals or teams through achievment and prowess whether that be mental or physical.

Ultimately it comes down to labels. If people real feel they need to have BB listed as a sport then they will advocate such but I dont think it either should be or can be if it continues to be based on subjective and personal opinions.

itsallaboutheL

Lantus wrote: »

Posing on stage is very hard?!? It may well be and I dont doubt that a tremendous amount of effort goes into it in preperation. But so do the girls in any beauty contest. I'm sure they would argue that what they do is difficult in terms of preperation and developing personality as someone else said (a type of training.)

But ultimately the winners and losers are judged on aesthetic qualities which are completely subjective and personal to one persons perspective. They change with fashion and trends and can be influenced or changed by small factors, again all subjective. Given a different set of judges a completely different set of results could conceivably be obtained for each competition which as a competition is fine, but as a sport seems wrong.

I believe that a sport should have a measurable and definable quantity which can seperate individuals or teams through achievment and prowess whether that be mental or physical.

Ultimately it comes down to labels. If people real feel they need to have BB listed as a sport then they will advocate such but I dont think it either should be or can be if it continues to be based on subjective and personal opinions.

The above could be applied to any sport with judges.

Lantus

A fair point as it would include many things like figure skating, snowboarding, gymnastics etc some of which are olympic events which we would probably take for granted. However, these events do require the user to perform technical acts of great skill unlike posing, which you cannot argue is as hard as doing multiple back flips on a 2 inch beam for example.

They are still measured on subjective elements though.

I would propose that sport is catagorised into several elements.

1/ Points or score based where judges and referees are used to uphold the rules only. e.g. football, racing, darts.
2/ points based awarded by judges based on technical prowess. e.g. figure skating and gymnastics.
3/ Points based awarded by judges based on aesthetic qualities. e.g. body building & Miss world.

I'm not saying that one's better than the other but it doesn't try to say that all sports are equal because clearly they are not.

discus

I hope some of you were watching Louis Theroux's Weird Weekends Bodybuilding yesterday!

I can't see how it is a sport, but I can't find an argument to prove it's not one... well not a good one

It is most definitely a sport.

Posing on stage is actually very hard - hard even for someone who is not slightly dehydrated and hungry!

An additional question is when do you become a bodybuilder - only when you step on stage or when you start training in the gym?

You're a bodybuilder when you compete in a bodybuilding competition. I kick around a football 5 a side once a week, doesn't make me a footballer. Just because the training consists of physical hardship doesn't make a bodybuilder an athelete. IMO athelete is a umbrella traditional title, and you can't just take anything that is similar and have the umbrella term apply to it!

itsallaboutheL

Whn the light shines we'll pose together
You and me we're both big fellas
Bodybuildings under an umbrella
Under an umbrella, Ella, Ella, Ella

gymsoldier

<snip> no steroid info please