<story><title>From Mr Average to Superman: Craig Davidson&apos;s account of using steroids (2008)</title><url>http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2008/may/18/healthandwellbeing.features1</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>scotty79</author><text>&amp;gt; The downstream health effects of developing muscle tissue (and increased bone density) are largely positive;&lt;p&gt;But surely up to a point? I find it hard to believe that guys growing so much meat on themselves that they can&amp;#x27;t clap their hands over their head get only largely positive health effects.&lt;p&gt;How&amp;#x27;s having hand, that when shaken by somebody feels like kaiser roll for them, improves health?&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; I feel silly that I&amp;#x27;m even bothering to justify myself to an internet stranger.&lt;p&gt;Sorry. No offence meant. I can respect bodybuilding as a hobby (part of life that has self contained meaning and brings pleasure by itself). I just see people doing it as if it was a mean to something and that&amp;#x27;s what eludes me (apart from, growing muscles to attract some girls, I get that).</text></item><item><author>jacques_chester</author><text>Lifting weights &lt;i&gt;is&lt;/i&gt; part of my daily life. I feel silly that I&amp;#x27;m even bothering to justify myself to an internet stranger. It&amp;#x27;s like when I had to justify playing roleplaying games or using the internet back in the mid-1990s.&lt;p&gt;However:&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; &lt;i&gt;It&amp;#x27;s like getting fat on purpose.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;The downstream health effects of developing muscle tissue (and increased bone density) are largely positive; of fat, largely negative.&lt;p&gt;Weight training improves insulin sensitivity, improves various cardiovascular markers, strengthens the heart and improves bone density. People who train with weights live longer, with fewer health problems, with shorter senescence, than people who don&amp;#x27;t.&lt;p&gt;These health effects are distinct from the health effects of non-resistance training such as running, cycling or swimming.</text></item><item><author>scotty79</author><text>I never seen the point of growing additional muscle tissue. First you have to grow it which is tiring, then you have to feed it and lug it around. It&amp;#x27;s like getting fat on purpose.&lt;p&gt;What&amp;#x27;s more, if your lifestyle and diet doesn&amp;#x27;t match your newly grown muscle tissue the body will adjust and all your effort to grow it will be gone in few weeks&amp;#x2F;months.&lt;p&gt;Instead of downvoting, please enlighten me about the benefits of growing few pounds of muscle tissue in places you don&amp;#x27;t really use in your daily life.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>jacques_chester</author><text>&amp;gt; &lt;i&gt;I find it hard to believe that guys growing so much meat on themselves that they can&amp;#x27;t clap their hands over their head get only largely positive health effects.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;Muscles don&amp;#x27;t make you inflexible. Inflexibility is what makes you inflexible. Olympic weightlifters and gymnasts are both heavily muscled with high mobility. Try overhead squatting some time. It&amp;#x27;s harder than it looks.&lt;p&gt;A common cause of difficulties is in benching heavily without working the shoulder through external rotation. You see it a lot in powerlifters and in the general &amp;quot;bench bro&amp;quot; population.&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; &lt;i&gt;I just see people doing it as if it was a mean to something and that&amp;#x27;s what eludes me&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;I lift weights for a number of reasons. Primarily to get better my sport, which is ... lifting weights.</text></comment>
<story><title>From Mr Average to Superman: Craig Davidson&apos;s account of using steroids (2008)</title><url>http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2008/may/18/healthandwellbeing.features1</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>scotty79</author><text>&amp;gt; The downstream health effects of developing muscle tissue (and increased bone density) are largely positive;&lt;p&gt;But surely up to a point? I find it hard to believe that guys growing so much meat on themselves that they can&amp;#x27;t clap their hands over their head get only largely positive health effects.&lt;p&gt;How&amp;#x27;s having hand, that when shaken by somebody feels like kaiser roll for them, improves health?&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; I feel silly that I&amp;#x27;m even bothering to justify myself to an internet stranger.&lt;p&gt;Sorry. No offence meant. I can respect bodybuilding as a hobby (part of life that has self contained meaning and brings pleasure by itself). I just see people doing it as if it was a mean to something and that&amp;#x27;s what eludes me (apart from, growing muscles to attract some girls, I get that).</text></item><item><author>jacques_chester</author><text>Lifting weights &lt;i&gt;is&lt;/i&gt; part of my daily life. I feel silly that I&amp;#x27;m even bothering to justify myself to an internet stranger. It&amp;#x27;s like when I had to justify playing roleplaying games or using the internet back in the mid-1990s.&lt;p&gt;However:&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; &lt;i&gt;It&amp;#x27;s like getting fat on purpose.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;The downstream health effects of developing muscle tissue (and increased bone density) are largely positive; of fat, largely negative.&lt;p&gt;Weight training improves insulin sensitivity, improves various cardiovascular markers, strengthens the heart and improves bone density. People who train with weights live longer, with fewer health problems, with shorter senescence, than people who don&amp;#x27;t.&lt;p&gt;These health effects are distinct from the health effects of non-resistance training such as running, cycling or swimming.</text></item><item><author>scotty79</author><text>I never seen the point of growing additional muscle tissue. First you have to grow it which is tiring, then you have to feed it and lug it around. It&amp;#x27;s like getting fat on purpose.&lt;p&gt;What&amp;#x27;s more, if your lifestyle and diet doesn&amp;#x27;t match your newly grown muscle tissue the body will adjust and all your effort to grow it will be gone in few weeks&amp;#x2F;months.&lt;p&gt;Instead of downvoting, please enlighten me about the benefits of growing few pounds of muscle tissue in places you don&amp;#x27;t really use in your daily life.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>noelwelsh</author><text>Of course it&amp;#x27;s up to a point.&lt;p&gt;Building muscle is not equivalent to body building. Body building is a distinct sub-culture within the strength sports. Not everyone who lifts is interested in getting as big as possible.</text></comment>