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Thread: Too Strong / Too Big

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Mar 2019
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    Default Too Strong / Too Big

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    Coach,

    Is "you can never get too strong" a non-literal and catchy piece of advice to lazies who are more concerned with visible abs and Functional Training than they are with getting stronger in the most efficient and effective way possible, kind of like GOMAD (which has been clarified)? Or is it a logical conclusion no matter Who the premise is?

    Let me be clear; I understand perfectly that more Strength is never 'bad', instead it'd be the side-effects of more strength (mass, in particular). By 'bad' I mean negative in the context of performance, e.g. in endurance events... increased strength (after a point) means increased mass, the benefits of which will at some point no longer supercede the increased energy demands of that increased mass.

    I vaguely remember you saying in one thread, something like "One can never be too strong, but there are a couple of sports in which one can be too big". How many is 'a couple'??? I'm pretty sure I understand the concept of diminishing returns with regards to Strength vs Endurance, but I want to make sure I haven't missed something. I could probably count 30 sports off the top of my head in under a minute where 'too big' becomes a reality. Am I missing something, do we have different ideas of what qualifies as a sport, or what?

    Also, I suppose that wrt such a one-liner, if indeed the 'couple' thing was an exaggeration, as well as it works for ab-bros and the genetically medriocre who are worried about becoming Belgian Blues after a NLP, a pro athlete with the amount of conditioning and practice that they undertake will never have to understand that there is indeed such a thing as 'too big', as they'll never get there anyway, 'there' being the point of diminishing returns. So yeah, is it that or am I missing something?

  2. #2
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    Default

    A one-track troll.

  3. #3
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    Default

    You're not wrong. I, for example, am far too strong.
    I'm also too rich, too lucky, too smart and too happy.
    I'm sorry.

  4. #4
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    Jul 2018
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    Default

    I got too strong. Now my friends always want me to carry the cooler or help with moving

  5. #5
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    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Mark Rippetoe View Post
    A one-track troll.
    Nah, just a slow noob trying to learn slowly...

    Quote Originally Posted by Kaimi Kuenzli View Post
    I got too strong. Now my friends always want me to carry the cooler or help with moving
    My sympathies.

    My question is really about the "too big" part, as I clarified in the op.

  6. #6
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    Jan 2014
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    I could probably count 30 sports off the top of my head in under a minute where 'too big' becomes a reality.
    I for one would be interested in viewing such a list, could you please provide?

    1) sport 1
    2) sport 2
    3) sport 3
    etc

    Thanks in advance...

  7. #7
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    Rock climbing. My climbing friends are sad that I gained 30 pounds for powerlifting.

  8. #8
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    Jul 2019
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mark Rippetoe View Post
    A one-track troll.

    I am not convinced this one is a troll.


    Quote Originally Posted by adamanderson View Post
    Nah, just a slow noob trying to learn slowly...



    My sympathies.

    My question is really about the "too big" part, as I clarified in the op.

    I think you are now looking at it in the context of bodybuilding. Yes, bodybuilders can alter their proportions in an unnatural way that limits their performance. A 250lb bodybuilder may have performance problems, but a 285lb man of the same height built like Magnus Ver Magnusson when he competed in WSM would not have the same problems.


    Too strong is a problem that the vast majority of people will never need to worry about.

    Watch Eddie Hall at ~400lbs swim. Looks like he could still clock a 10 second 25 meters with a little preparation.

    YouTube

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Aug 2019
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    Default

    I don't know whether the OP was trolling or not--and I am one who comes to SS very late in life, but am now decidedly committed to the proposition the you can never be too strong. But I can definitely attest to having myself been "too big " for the sport I chose in earlier life--that of ultra-long-distance canoe racing, centered around one non-stop river race each year of 260 miles. I was 6 feet, and at my leanest and most aerobic, weighed 182 pounds at the start. I was competing in an unlimited, multi-man boat with younger paddlers who weighed in at [approximately] 140, 150, and 160 pounds. Admittedly, my chief problems were with the heat and the fact that I was 50 years old--on average, some 10 years older than the average at that level. But size definitely hurt me.

    It's always a trade off, but I would think that Coach Rip probably definitely meant to include in his couple of sports the marathon--which is always dominated by guys from Kenya that look like models for starting a magazine one would title: "Anorexia Today". Don't get me wrong--and I admit that as a Newbie, I have had a hard time committing to the notion of working out only twice a week (age!) and not doing a lot of Concept II work. It's a hard notion.

    Best regards to all,

    Russ

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Mar 2019
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    Default

    starting strength coach development program
    Quote Originally Posted by wiigelec View Post
    I for one would be interested in viewing such a list, could you please provide?

    1) sport 1
    2) sport 2
    3) sport 3
    etc

    Thanks in advance...
    Sure!

    1) 10k
    2) 11k
    3) 11.431235k
    etc

    You're welcome

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