^Bullshit like this is why I'd never be a bodybuilder...
Worried about things like site injections before shows, how the muscle looks rather than how it functions...
To me it's more like a beauty contest than anything I'd associate with hardcore lifestyle.
I see alot of bodybuilders doing volume work on the machines and cables......neglecting the core movements that they should be doing.
Muscle for muscle's sake seems worthless to me....
If it's not functional, what is the point?
DIV
I agree 100% with everything you said...
Functional explosive strength is where it's at...
Agree and disagree. I've said it before, the strength I gain I look at as an added bonus, and I view it as a means to an end. True, you see BB all the time who lift with machines and cables and very few free weights...but how many of them are "good" BB? Very few if any IMO. But a good BB will have an abundance of functional strength, it's these guys who have the deep grainy looking muscle, rather then the smoother balloon shaped muscle.
As for "Muscle for muscle's sake....If it's not functional, what is the point?" How is it not functional? It's this muscle that leads to the physique that is desired in order to compete....that is it's main function.
I'll also agree that BB has a lot of elemnets of a beauty pageant, at least the comp itself does, but to implie that this small factor takes away from it being part of a hardcore lifestyle is a very inaccurate statement, especially when it comes to contest prep time...I can't think of anything that is more "hardcore" then that.