Vasily Alexeev, and his greatness

[ehcundiff]

Hi Mark, what would you estimate Vasily Alexeev’s body fat percent to be? I wouldn’t mind to look like that and be that strong.

Thanks

[Mark Rippetoe]

What does his bodyfat have to do with his greatness? Or anything else?

[Crom]

Sadly, people simply do not like fat guys.

[Joel Chapman]

His body fat is 0%.

[Mark Rippetoe]

True thing. Because Alexiev was great, and bodyfat is ungreat.

[tww1313]

What does his bodyfat have to do with his greatness? Or anything else?

Would he have been able to lift that much weight without it? Takes weight to move weight!

[Giri Kotte]

Would he have been able to lift that much weight without it? Takes weight to move weight!

That principle has diminishing returns but Alexiev looks beyond the point of any reasonable return for weight gained. I do wonder if a big belly helps with the clean as it does with a deadlift, providing a little bit of elastic rebound at the start.

[Mark Rippetoe]

If we're being serious now, we could think about the mass/mass relationship of the bar and the lifter during the pull.