What is bodybuilding. The benefits and harms of bodybuilding

Age-related changes

You probably don’t know that a person begins to age around the age of twenty. His hearing and vision have been deteriorating since the age of 12. However, the signs of aging do not yet show themselves externally and can only be determined with the help of fairly subtle biochemical tests.

By the middle of the third decade of life, age makes itself felt with the first wrinkles on the face and mild, rather rare, attacks of depression, reflecting the beginning decline in the level of physical activity.

After thirty, aging begins a frontal attack. Suffice it to say that the body’s ability to absorb oxygen immediately drops by 10% and in the future it will decrease by about 10 percent each subsequent decade.

Of course, you can give up on all this if it were not for the numerous personal problems that age-related decline brings with it. The drama of Faust will sooner or later overtake each of us.

While Indiana Jones is searching for the magic grail, bodybuilding already has something to offer the world. Studies show that regular exercise with weights has a pronounced anti-aging effect. Bodybuilding reverses the “normal” decline in metabolic rate in middle age, especially when combined with a fat-restricted diet.

By the way, this effect is universal. In elderly people aged 60 to 96 years old who had never done bodybuilding before, training with weights caused an increase in vital activity. They added up to 15 percent muscle mass, and physical strength increased by 180-200 percent!

The benefits of bodybuilding for men

Men can't help but be pleased with the fact that bodybuilding not only helps them look younger, but also feel younger. In modern society, the problem of impotence affects many middle-aged men. This is due to the environment, poor quality nutrition, complications from various types of diseases, in particular diabetes, and so on, there are many reasons. Bodybuilding reduces the risk of various diseases, including impotence. There are, of course, many myths that jocks have problems with potency, but this is far from a true statement, and it arose after the extensive use of anabolic steroids among amateur bodybuilders. As a result of their incorrect use, the majority actually began to actively experience side effects in the form of deterioration in potency.

Modern medicine has achieved great success in the treatment of various diseases, but you need to understand that any pharmacology treats something and cripples something. Therefore, you should take care of your health in natural ways. One of them is bodybuilding.

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Healthy psyche

Weight training, like long-distance running, can help relieve depression, a disease that seems to be the scourge of modern civilization. Studies show that the brain releases special chemicals during training - antidepressants.

In addition, bodybuilding classes themselves are a source of strong positive emotions, because every day they bring you closer to the desired ideal.

Psychologists emphasize that a spectacular appearance is much more important for us than is commonly thought. Finding a strong, trained body cures the complexes that poison existence and instills in the soul peace and confidence, which over time become stable dominants of character.

Bodybuilding and its effect on the body

Yesterday morning I heard about the death of the famous athlete and actor Vladimir Turchinsky

. It's a shame, he was loved by many, but he lived only 46 years.

Lenta.ru

reports:

Vladimir Turchinsky died at the age of 47 in the early morning (about 5 am) on December 16 in his home in the village of Pashukovo, Noginsk district, Moscow region. According to the SKP, the athlete felt unwell immediately after waking up. He lost consciousness and fell to the floor

. Turchinsky's wife Irina called an ambulance. Arriving when called, the doctors pronounced Turchinsky dead.

The investigation found that about three weeks ago Turchinsky went to the naval hospital complaining of chest pain

.

Vladimir Turchinsky

According to morning data, an autopsy has not yet been performed, but the cause of death can be assumed. Perhaps the complaints were due to new-onset angina pectoris

, and death is caused by a suddenly onset fatal arrhythmia in the form of
ventricular fibrillation
. Without emergency resuscitation measures, such arrhythmia always ends fatally. Since Turchinsky was far outside the capital, unfortunately, there was no chance to save him.

Body-building

The passion for bodybuilding (strength training) looks, on the one hand, beautiful

, and on the other hand,
it can be harmful
to health. Let's imagine a bodybuilding fanatic who is obsessed with acquiring a mountain of beautiful muscles. True, he does not use anabolic steroids (more on anabolic steroids below).

What problems can you expect?

bodybuilding enthusiast NOT taking anabolic steroids?

1. Problems with the cardiovascular system
   .

   Short-term sharp static loads associated with lifting a barbell lead to severe tension and increased blood pressure

   .
   This is similar to the increase in blood pressure from stress and is just as harmful. Therefore, if you are prone to arterial hypertension, doctors recommend excluding static loads ( weightlifting, bodybuilding, boxing, wrestling
   ).
   swimming, long-distance running, cycling, skiing, skating, brisk walking
   ) are much more beneficial for the cardiovascular system

   A compromise solution: replace pressing a heavy barbell with repeated lifting of lighter dumbbells

   . And go swimming or long running at least 2-3 times a week.

2. Risk of injury
   .

   Injuries are possible in any sport, but in weightlifting, considerable additional weight of the sports equipment is added to the weight of your body. Most often, weightlifters injure the spine and knee joints.

   .

   Read also:  L-carnitine for weight loss: how to take L-carnitine while cutting, what is it for

   According to Kotani (1971), more than 95% of weightlifters

   complain of
   pain in the lumbar spine
   : of these, 31% were diagnosed with spondylosis*/spondylolisthesis**, and 18% had axial deviation of the spine.
   For example, the exercise “barbell press” is so dangerous for the spine that in 1972 it was excluded from the program of the Olympic Games
   .

   *Spondylosis

   (spondylosis; Greek spondylos vertebra + chronic non-inflammatory disease -osis) - dystrophic changes in the intervertebral disc.
   ** With pondylolisthesis
   - slippage of a vertebra.

   The knee joints are not subject to such overloads as in football or basketball, so weightlifters suffer from chronic

   joint diseases.
   I am concerned about pain in the joint and ligaments, damage to the articular menisci
   .

   Read more about injuries in weightlifting here: https://www.sportmedicine.ru/weightlifting.php

3. Potential Dangers of Food Additives
   .

   Many bodybuilders take whey protein and creatine when working out regularly. These supplements themselves are not harmful.

   and therefore do not belong to the category of doping drugs.
   Whey protein
   contains amino acids to build muscle mass, glucose and vitamins, which are necessary during intense exercise.
   Creatine
   is involved in cellular energy metabolism.

   However, excessive amounts of protein create increased stress on the urinary organs.

   , especially in conditions of insufficient fluid intake and the use of diuretics to reduce body weight. If the kidneys are a weak point in a bodybuilder's body, the risk of problems increases and becomes enormous if the weightlifter is addicted to anabolic steroids. There are known cases when young people had to be connected to an “artificial kidney” and then transplanted with a donor one.

Anabolic steroid

Taking anabolic steroids is much more dangerous.

Anabolic steroid

- these are hormonal drugs that
enhance the synthesis of new tissues
, for example, muscle and fat.
Anabolic steroids include substances whose structure and properties resemble male sex hormones (androgens)
.
In medicine, androgens are prescribed to men for sexual underdevelopment, functional disorders in the reproductive system, acromegaly, and for women - for certain tumors of the genital organs and mammary glands, dysfunctional uterine bleeding. By the way, some other hormones, such as insulin
. Patients with type 1 diabetes lose weight without receiving insulin, but gain weight when taking insulin. Occasionally, insulin is also used to build muscle mass.

The use of any anabolic steroids can cause more than one negative side effect. In most cases, it all depends on the dosage. The higher the dose, the more likely various negative effects will occur. These side effects include acne

(pictures below), fluid retention, change in testicular size, liver dysfunction, scalp hair loss, body hair growth, sleep problems, increased appetite, gynecomastia, deepened voice, increased aggressiveness.
Most of these side effects are considered reversible (temporary) and disappear when you stop taking the steroid medication. However, much more severe consequences of the use of AS are possible, such as heart disease and serious mental disorders. Athletes who use steroids often become physically and mentally dependent
on the drugs.

Increased pressure

, sometimes leading to fainting, in athletes (and non-athletes) who took anabolic steroids is a widely known fact.
Heart disease and hypertension occur in 25% of patients using anabolic steroids, and myocardial damage occurs in 1-2%. Various authors have described several cases of death as a result of acute heart failure
as a result of taking anabolic steroids. Thus, with an existing tendency to increase blood pressure, metabolic shifts towards the occurrence of risk factors (increased cholesterol, triglycerides, lipoproteins, increased formation of free radicals and others ), the possibility of complications from the cardiovascular system
increases many times
, despite the relatively young age of athletes taking anabolic steroids

Article from the magazine “Muscle nutrition” https://alex.codis.ru/?id=165

I have a neutral attitude towards bodybuilding and an extremely negative attitude towards the use of anabolic steroids. Before you start taking them, you need to weigh the possible side effects 10 times. For clarity, I'm including a few pictures.

In the pictures: severe conglobate acne

caused by taking anabolic steroids.
These blackheads are also called heaped
. They leave behind scars on the skin.

Figure A

: The patient is at his best. The 21-year-old bodybuilder abused anabolic steroids with androgenic effects.

B: severe conglobate acne

. Lesions include papules, pustules, abscesses, and deep ulcerations.

C: patient after 6 weeks of antibiotic therapy

.

Head of the Department of Medical and Biological Problems of Sports of the St. Petersburg Research Institute of Physical Culture Oleg Churganov

denies the possibility of taking anabolic steroids by Turchinsky.

“It’s all due to constant, regular loads, psychological and emotional stress

“that people, including Vladimir, experience all the time,” Churganov, who personally knew Turchinsky well, commented on the situation. “It’s not for nothing that people at the very top are now talking about prevention, medical examination, and a healthy lifestyle. You can’t go anywhere without stress now, but you need to control your condition. I don’t know how closely Vladimir has been monitoring his health lately. However, it seems that there is also a problem of sudden death, but against the background of constant stress and overexertion.”

https://www.rosbalt.ru/2009/12/16/697882.html

Take care of your health

Unfortunately, nowadays many people die at a young age. Vladimir Turchinsky died suddenly

(46 years old) and Russian politician
Yegor Gaidar

Roman Trakhtenberg
suddenly left us , on September 29, 2007, Anton Skorobogatov died from stomach cancer, on whose website I downloaded the theme for this blog .

I will not tire of repeating - take care of yourself, monitor your health every day at any age.

7 minutes of running reduces mortality from heart attack and stroke by 2 times

(addition dated December 14, 2014)

The World Health Organization recommends 75 minutes per week

devote to intense sports, such as running.
However, until recently it was unclear whether there would be any health benefits from spending less time exercising. Scientists from the University of Iowa have found that there will be benefits. Just seven minutes of running reduces the risk of heart attack and stroke by 55%
, reports The Times of India.

5-10 minutes of running bring the same results as 15-20 minutes of moderate intensity exercise. The results of the study show that even if you exercise for only a short time, you can significantly improve your health. Runners had a 30% lower risk of death from any cause

. They were also 45% less likely to die from heart disease and stroke. People who ran for six years or more had a 29% lower risk of death. Their risk of death from cardiovascular disease and stroke was reduced by 50%.

August 5, 2014. Source: newspaper “Zvyazda”, translated: https://zviazda.by/2014/08/47304.html

Mediterranean diet protects heart better than exercise

A 10-year study found that people who actively consume fresh fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, legumes, olive oil, fish and wine

,
are 47% less likely
to experience heart disease.

Data from more than 2,500 Greeks aged 18-89 were taken into account. Almost one in five men and 12% of women have experienced heart disease or died from stroke, coronary artery disease and heart attack

, as noted by The Daily Mail.
Scientists assessed the diet of volunteers. It turned out that, in general, women were more inclined to such a diet. And this gave them protection against diabetes, hypertension, obesity, high cholesterol and inflammation
. But the Mediterranean diet, according to scientists, can help anyone, regardless of gender and age.

March 11, 2020. Source: newspaper “Zvyazda”, translated: https://zviazda.by/2015/03/74925.html

Workouts and colds

There was once a lot of controversy surrounding bodybuilding and colds. Some insisted that it is necessary to exercise despite the symptoms, others say that there is no point in such activities. American scientists experimentally resolved this dispute. They infected a group of bodybuilders with a cold virus, and left one half without training, while the other half continued to actively train.

As a result, those subjects who allowed the body to calmly cope with the virus without overloading them with training recovered an order of magnitude faster. It is interesting that the anabolic effect was not in any way beneficial for the trainees. The fact is that any cold suppresses the anabolic effect and activates cortisol (catabolic effect).

Bodybuilding after illness

After recovery, it is advisable to refrain from bodybuilding for 1-3 days, after which you can gradually begin training. Even if your body seems to have recovered and you feel 100% healthy, rushing to reach maximum working weights is highly not recommended.

Bodybuilding and recovery from illness are somewhat delicate things. It is very advisable not to overexert yourself in training for 7-10 days after the cold has gone away, allowing your body to recover and return to its previous rhythm. Working weights should be reduced by about 30%, while also reducing the intensity of the workout.

Heart disease and bodybuilding

Bodybuilders have a beautiful, pumped up body, but such training can lead to problems with the heart muscle. How does this happen? After all, bodybuilders breathe health. How can bodybuilding make a person strong, and at the same time harm? Now I will explain how physiological processes occur that lead to diseases. You just need to remember some rules and stick to them.

Interesting articles about chemical additives and their effects:

So, let's begin. Nothing is as effective as strength training in promoting muscle growth. When exercising with heavy weights, the body protects itself and builds muscle mass. This is how he tries to minimize the stress of overwork. The heart is also a muscle, but not an ordinary one. The same mechanisms that cause skeletal muscles to grow lead to the death of cardiac tissue.

Exercising when you have a cold is also dangerous. Microbes will only circulate more actively throughout the body, affecting more and more new areas. Therefore, it is not advisable to engage in sports if you have not yet fully recovered. This can lead to disastrous consequences. And instead of a beautiful healthy body, you can acquire several more diseases.

Sometimes bodybuilders strive to build muscle mass as quickly as possible. In pursuit of quick results, they forget about health. Large muscles need more nutrition. This increases the load on the heart, as it needs to supply more tissue with oxygen. As a result, the walls of the heart muscle become thicker.

As a result, the athlete experiences:

• headache;
• insomnia;
• dizziness;
• fatigue;
• chest pain;
• cardiopalmus.

Cardio exercises help avoid this fate. They saturate the heart with oxygen and prevent the death of heart cells. The same effect is produced by Mildronate (the active substance is meldonium).

How quickly can you gain muscle mass?

On average, with proper nutrition and training in natural bodybuilding, you can gain ~0.25 kg of muscle mass per week, which will be ~12 kg per year.

For those just starting to train, the speed will be higher. But muscle mass will “grow” mainly due to an increase in the concentration of glycogen in the muscles, which is an energy store: glycogen retains water, which leads to an increase in the volume of muscle fibers. That is, in the strict sense of the word, this is NOT muscle growth.

Who finds it easier to gain muscle mass:

• It is easier for teenagers to gain muscle mass than for those over 30, since their bodies produce more testosterone, an anabolic hormone that stimulates muscle growth. (By the way, anabolic steroids are artificial analogues of testosterone.)
• those who are thin because their weight is below normal (the body is always interested in returning it to normal).
• For those who have previously been involved in bodybuilding, “muscle memory” helps them get back into shape.

After 30, it is more difficult to gain muscle mass, since the natural level of testosterone decreases every year. The same applies to women whose bodies have naturally low testosterone.

The rate of mass gain also decreases in trained bodybuilders compared to less trained ones.

Muscle growth of 1 kg per month is a very realistic average rate in the first year of natural bodybuilding. During the first three years, a beginner gains the bulk of his muscle mass. Then a certain plateau is reached: the mass changes very reluctantly. But there's nothing wrong with that.

I'll give you a personal example.

My weight is now 90 kg. I gained most of it in the first three to five years of playing various sports, starting with about 70 kg.

Over the past five years, it has been changing at a very slow pace, although training activity is constantly increasing (though more towards endurance).

I also constantly experiment with myself: experimenting with vegetarianism, training 5 days a week, intermittent fasting and interval training for endurance.

(Comparing the rate of muscle gain would be much easier to carry out if only strength training was carried out according to the dangerous scheme in this article.)

In general, building muscle is more difficult than losing weight. Losing 0.5 kg per week is very easy, just by slightly limiting your calorie intake. But gaining the same muscle mass is much more difficult.

We recommend: The main principle of obesity or How to lose weight without sports? Scientific facts

I believe that there are many among you who are now thinking “I want to grow endlessly.” Answer the question “why?”

Do you want to weigh 100 kg? 110? 130? For what?

To feel more confident? I feel sorry for you if you draw confidence from the masses...

So that everyone would be afraid and respected? It means you’re still a kid, either in age or in brains, if you move through life with primitive instincts.

According to the law of conservation of energy, large muscle mass requires greater effort to maintain it. This is manifested both in training activity and in the amount of food eaten, the level of which must be maintained.

That is, if you want to be big, then keep in mind that you won’t be able to relax.

The dark side of professional bodybuilding

Almost any professional sport cripples, the same situation with bodybuilding. In order to perform well in competitions, you have to sacrifice your physical resource; each person has his own.

I would like to give a few examples of athletes who paid a high price for their achievements.

Ronnie Coleman

8-time Mr. Olympia winner. Since 2007, Ronnie has undergone several operations on his joints and spine.

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