Debate over dangers of bodybuilding resurfaces after images of deceased bodybuilder A

[Admin]

Bodybuilders may be putting themselves at risk. Source: Getty Images



THE resurgence of viral images of Austrian bodybuilder Andreas Munzer has reignited the debate about the dangers of bodybuilding.

Munzer died 19 years ago this month of what appeared to be multiple organ failure as a result of alleged anabolic steroid abuse.
The bodybuilder’s autopsy revealed he had almost 0 per cent body fat at the time of his death and experts suggested this could have played a role in his demise.

Andreas Munzer. Source: Twitter



Columbia University movement sciences professor Carol Garber said men required at least 3 per cent body fat and women needed at least 12 per cent in order to avoid serious health complications.
“You need body fat for cellular function, energy use and to pad the joints and organs,” she told Good Morning America.
“Having too little can lead to nutritional deficiencies, electrolyte imbalances and malfunction of the heart, kidney and other organs.”
Musclemaniaproducer Louis Zwick saw Munzer 10 days before his death and doubts his body was completely absent of fat.
“I’ve never really seen anyone who really had zero body fat,” he said.
“You just can’t be. You wouldn’t survive.”
In saying that, Zwick admits there is a dangerous culture in the sport with bodybuilders aiming to be as lean as humanly possible.
“There are still some bodybuilders obsessed about their numbers who take their body fat percentage readings on a regular basis,” he said.
US Bodybuilding Federation commissioner Brian Washington added that, despite the risks, bodybuilders had a perpetual obsession with stripping every last ounce of fat from their body to look like Munzer.
“Percentage of body fat is a major issue with bodybuilders,” he said.
“They devote a lot of their efforts and money on products to go as low as they can possibly go.”

 

[Stiffy]

You been reading News.com again Admin!

Andreas Munzer 0% body fat. No chance of any of us fat bastards achieving that naturally!

 

[Admin]

i trawl news.com.au to see what the latest fitness or diet crazes are

always good for a laugh

 

[Shrek]

The title is fucking stupid.
Bodybuilding is not dangerous, abuse of drugs is dangerous. He was taking everything under the sun. That's what contributed to multiple organ failure not bodybuilding.

 

[Fadi]

The title is fucking stupid.
Bodybuilding is not dangerous, abuse of drugs is dangerous. He was taking everything under the sun. That's what contributed to multiple organ failure not bodybuilding.

So true. And like you Adrian, the first thing that struck me was how terribly wrong the title was. Coming from the sport of Olympic weightlifting, which I consider to be the most dangerous iron sport out there (at its high levels), simply based on its reliance on power as a mean to lifting a weight overhead.

I now firmly believe that there are no safer iron sport than the sport of bodybuilding.

Now if you want to discuss life style, as in some hardcore competitive bodybuilding/steroid abusing etc., then we're discussing a totally different sport from top to bottom. However I see the non competitive bodybuilders/non-extremists, (and that's us here on Ausbb), are healthier and fitter because of the lifestyle we lead as knowledgeable bodybuilders. We understand our bodies better from both the physiological as well as the mechanical point of view, and we understand a lot more about nutrition, (current) nutrition, than some professionals who get paid to give advice on the subject.

So "dangerous", and bodybuilding, at least for me, are far from even coming close to being remotely synonymous.

 

[Stiffy]

So true Fadi. This is why I prefer Bodybuilding to Powerlifting, much healthier. Natural Bodybuilding I'm talking.

 

[Headley]

So "dangerous", and bodybuilding, at least for me, are far from even coming close to being remotely synonymous.

+1000

This guy was going the extreme, it's an isolated case which bears nothing to any sport

 

[Fadi]

So true Fadi. This is why I prefer Bodybuilding to Powerlifting, much healthier. Natural Bodybuilding I'm talking.

I fully agree with you Sir. Powerlifting, for me as an observer and as someone who has lifted some big weights once upon a time, places way too much stress on the joints than stressing any other physical system when lifting such monstrous weights. I don't say this with any form of disrespect to any competitive powerlifter out there. If any offence was taken - then..., I'm sorry.

Just to clarify one thing here: the above was written in context of the OP.

 

[Goosey]

Competitive bodybiulding is risky and like all "sports" not a healthy activity.
isnt this what it's saying?

competative bodybiulding and posetlifting are no better or worse than each other imo

 

[Fadi]

competative bodybiulding and posetlifting are no better or worse than each other imo

What is posetlifting Andy?

 

[Goosey]

It's like powerlifting only spelt differently due to a combination of not wearing my reading glasses and using the phone.

 

[Repacked]

It's like powerlifting only spelt differently due to a combination of not wearing my reading glasses and using the phone.

Does sound dangerous...

 

[Fadi]

It's like powerlifting only spelt differently due to a combination of not wearing my reading glasses and using the phone.

Ah ok, thanks mate. I am however respectfully disagreeing with you here, unless you can show me how it is that you view both sport as being

no better or worse than each other imo

On what are you basing your opinion?

I can confidently say that the potentiality of an injury occurring in bodybuilding is much less than in powerlifting. Now it's a different matter if a (particular) bodybuilder, more often than not leaves his alter ego to beat him into arriving to the gym to lift some big ass weights in order to impress every Tom Dick & Jane!

 

[Goosey]

Ah ok, thanks mate. I am however respectfully disagreeing with you here, unless you can show me how it is that you view both sport as being On what are you basing your opinion?

I can confidently say that the potentiality of an injury occurring in bodybuilding is much less than in powerlifting. Now it's a different matter if a (particular) bodybuilder, more often than not leaves his alter ego to beat him into arriving to the gym to lift some big ass weights in order to impress every Tom Dick & Jane!

That's ok Fadi, I guess I am looking further than what you think.

But on the topic of lifting, I could be wrong, but most top level "competing" individuals are carrying an injury of some form or another.
Due to either spending many hours in the gym, and in my opinion too many and their lifting practices, which is more often than not pretty bad.

Bodybiulding also requires the person to look a certain way, the dieting, chemicals, over-eating, supplements, take their toll, along with the mental fatigue and the constant need to obsess how they look.
It looks a tough gig, and to me it looks silly.

 

[Stiffy]

That's ok Fadi, I guess I am looking further than what you think.

But on the topic of lifting, I could be wrong, but most top level "competing" individuals are carrying an injury of some form or another.
Due to either spending many hours in the gym, and in my opinion too many and their lifting practices, which is more often than not pretty bad.

Bodybiulding also requires the person to look a certain way, the dieting, chemicals, over-eating, supplements, take their toll, along with the mental fatigue and the constant need to obsess how they look.
It looks a tough gig, and to me it looks silly.

But Powerlifters also over or under eat, can consume massive amounts of Steroids and Diuretics. They certainly over load the joints and don't usually train in as balanced a way as Bodybuilders.

Plus the higher reps that Bodybuilders go to more often does have better systemic health benefits. All this being said I am talking Natural Bodybuilding.

 

[Goosey]

But Powerlifters also over or under eat, can consume massive amounts of Steroids and Diuretics. They certainly over load the joints and don't usually train in as balanced a way as Bodybuilders.

Plus the higher reps that Bodybuilders go to more often does have better systemic health benefits. All this being said I am talking Natural Bodybuilding.

What I'm saying is that, at the top level neither are better or worse than each other, your comment about vacuum's is a good example of how unhealthy body-building has become.

Some body builders are so out of condition they can hardly breathe.

Powelifting is dangerous as hell, so is body-biulding for the same and other reasons.

I could list a huge example of past and present body-builders with problems physical and mental.

 

[taurus]

 

[Fadi]

That's ok Fadi, I guess I am looking further than what you think.

But on the topic of lifting, I could be wrong, but most top level "competing" individuals are carrying an injury of some form or another.
Due to either spending many hours in the gym, and in my opinion too many and their lifting practices, which is more often than not pretty bad.

Bodybiulding also requires the person to look a certain way, the dieting, chemicals, over-eating, supplements, take their toll, along with the mental fatigue and the constant need to obsess how they look.
It looks a tough gig, and to me it looks silly.

Thank you for the reply Andy I appreciate it mate. Would it be safe to say that you and I both, are blaming the bodybuilder instead of bodybuilding; the driver and not the Ferrari so to speak? Sure, I read your words re the usage of "chemical' etc. However I made a clear distinction in my previous posts between the sport of bodybuilding, and what is involved in getting what we see in the form of a pro bodybuilder on that contest stage. I said that these two sports are not one and the same thing, as one is for health of body and mind, whilst the other is (ultimately) for its destruction.

So to wrap it up, I say that if we were to compare two 100% natural athlete, one a bodybuilder, the other a powerlifter, I can not help but think that the sheer load lifted by the powerlifter (even whilst in perfect form), has more potential to create an injury than what an equally sane and disciplined bodybuilder would need to build muscles to satisfy his sporting needs.

You're welcome to disagree with me Andy.

 

[Goosey]

Thank you for the reply Andy I appreciate it mate. Would it be safe to say that you and I both, are blaming the bodybuilder instead of bodybuilding; the driver and not the Ferrari so to speak? Sure, I read your words re the usage of "chemical' etc. However I made a clear distinction in my previous posts between the sport of bodybuilding, and what is involved in getting what we see in the form of a pro bodybuilder on that contest stage. I said that these two sports are not one and the same thing, as one is for health of body and mind, whilst the other is (ultimately) for its destruction.

So to wrap it up, I say that if we were to compare two 100% natural athlete, one a bodybuilder, the other a powerlifter, I can not help but think that the sheer load lifted by the powerlifter (even whilst in perfect form), has more potential to create an injury than what an equally sane and disciplined bodybuilder would need to build muscles to satisfy his sporting needs.

You're welcome to disagree with me Andy.

The way I see it, and I'm pretty vanilla most of the time.

All things being equal either can be both as healthy or unhealthy as each other.

Many powerlifters, as with bodybiulders, in America on the west coast, in the 60's trained different to the way they "train" now.
Whether that is better or worse is another topic.

 

[Bazza20]

Of course bodybuilding is unhealthy. I'm not talking about gym rats that call themselves bodybuilders.

Not even talking about the abuse of drugs actual bodybuilders undergo extremely restrictive diets and extreme weight cuts and dehydration before a competition, neither are healthy.