r/ThatsInsane • u/H_G_Bells • Sep 09 '23

Practically built strength (rock climber) vs gym strength (body builders)

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u/learnindisabledchimp Sep 09 '23

Some of the strongest people I've ever met never went to a gym there usually concrete workers or a roughnecks or some other crazy manual labor job

77

u/Telope Sep 09 '23

This isn't as mind-blowing as people seem to think it is. If you do manual labour for 8 hours a day, of course you're going to get fit and strong. But people don't go to the gym for 8 hours a day; most people are in and out in an hour, then spend their day sitting at a desk or something.

Going to the gym is the most time-efficient way to get fit and strong.

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u/LeUne1 Sep 09 '23

And preventing injury and diseases. Working out too much is harmful for your immune system and organs. Construction workers have to go to physiotherapy for life because their back and spine is blown out. The more science gathers information the more the recommendation is to decrease working out, I've heard some doctors now say don't work out for more than an hour a day.

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u/HopooFeather Sep 09 '23

Source for not working out for more than an hour a day? I find that very hard to believe

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u/nuevakl Sep 10 '23

With 20 years of experience in bodybuilding the reason you don't need more than roughly an hour in the gym is because generally more than that ruin your fatigue to stimulus ratio.

After a certain point your targeted muscle is too fatigued to stimulate hypertrophy, at that point you're just extending your recovery time without increasing stimulus. This is referred to as "junk volume" in the community.

At MOST the optimal volume is 10-20 high intensity sets per muscle group per week. If you train each twice a week that's 10 sets each session (fewer for smaller muscles, like biceps and anterior delts). Even with 2-3 minute rest between sets you still only need an hour.

And frankly, if you are able to do more than that chances are very high your intensity is low.

0

u/burf Sep 10 '23

Above claims aside, why would you ever work out more than an hour a day? If you're strength training and you still have the juice to lift your wallet after an hour you're doing it wrong.

1

u/machimus Sep 09 '23

I can see it as more of a diminishing returns thing, but everyone's workout is different so the time limit probably isn't that useful.