Weight training or bodybuilding?

Weight training and bodybuilding are distinct modes. Learn about the differences.

The confusion is constant and often weight training and bodybuilding are lumped together. But both methods have distinct and well-defined goals. Although both aims to have muscles increased, they are two distinct practices.

Weight training or bodybuilding aims at different objectives and as such some of the techniques are also different.

Different objectives

While strength training is common to both weight as the bodybuilding, this is the main and ultimate goal of those who practice Weight training. For the bodybuilding, strength work is not a goal, but a mean to achieve the end result of muscular hypertrophy, and who often passes through competitions to display their muscles that should be as close as possible to the aesthetic perfection. The size of the muscles in its aesthetic aspect is the privileged by bodybuilders. Bodybuilding athletes have as main objective of training the physical aspect of muscles, its beauty, and not the increase in resistance to dedicated practitioners of weight training.

Strength vs. aesthetic

A practitioner of bodybuilding does exercises and techniques of weightlifting not as a way to increase their strength, but in order to increase the size of the muscles. The strength will be built anyway, but it works as a side effect of what these athletes intend to develop.

Calories vs. lean mass

Beyond the kind of exercises being a little different one of the dissonances between weight training and bodybuilding is the diet. For a strength training and for muscular hypertrophy the athlete needs to eat large number of calories. Not only because he will be expending a lot of effort during practice, but also because it is essential to ingest large doses of correct foods, such as proteins, for muscles to respond the way you want.

While weight training athletes care only with this issue, bodybuilders face an additional challenge. At one point they have to continuing to increase the muscles, but must also start to lose body fat, so that the muscles during the competition may be as visible as possible.