This certainly seems to be a common attitude among the Japanese arts (including Japanese karate) and some Chinese arts. A lot of older Okinawan karate styles would disagree about this.
For example, consider the following quote from the late Shorin-ryu master Nagamine Shoshin:
(<i>Essence of Okinawan Karate-Do (1st edition), p.247). He goes on to advocate the use of "modern bodybuilding equipment" for such training. The photograph illustrating this section shows, front and center, a barbell loaded to what appears to be 275lbs. That's not a lot of weight by SS standards, but these guys didn't have the benefit of a lot of strength-specific coaching. Nagamine-sensei was also not a very large man (not even 5ft tall - nutritional status on Okinawa in the early 20th Century was pretty poor).
One of the oldest implements used for <i>hojo undo</i> (supplementary exercise) training in Okinawan systems is the <i>tan</i>, which originally consisted of a long rod with stone or (later) iron weights attached to each end:
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That should look pretty familiar to folks hereabouts.
It's been pretty much displaced by the Olympic barbell these days.